Carlos Horacio Casamiquela (9 June 1948 – 12 September 2020) was an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

agricultural engineer Agricultural engineering, also known as agricultural and biosystems engineering, is the field of study and application of engineering science and designs principles for agriculture purposes, combining the various disciplines of mechanical enginee ...

and public official. He was appointed Minister of Agriculture of Argentina in November 2013, replacing Norberto Yauhar.

Biography

Born in Viedma, Río Negro Province, Casamiquela studied Agricultural Engineering at the National University of La Plata, graduating in 1973. He also held degrees in Local Economic Development from the National University of General San Martín and the Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain. He joined the

National Agricultural Technology Institute The National Agricultural Technology Institute ( es, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria), commonly known as INTA, is an Argentine federal extension agency in charge of the generation, adaptation and diffusion of technologies, knowledg ...

(INTA) in 1974 as a topsoil specialist, and in 1980 returned to his home province by way of a transfer to INTA's Río Negro Upper Valley Experimental Station. His work as researcher focused on irrigation needs for the orchard-rich Upper Valley, and he went on to direct the facility between 1984 and 1990. He authored the "Project for the Restructuring of

Fruticulture Pomology (from Latin , “fruit,” + ) is a branch of botany that studies fruit and its cultivation. The term fruticulture—introduced from Romance languages (all of whose incarnations of the term descend from Latin and )—is also used. Pomol ...

in Argentina" (1986), among 15 published research papers. Casamiquela was promoted to the post of INTA Regional Director for North Patagonia in 1990. He remained in the post until September 2003, when he was appointed Vice President of SENASA, the

food safety Food safety (or food hygiene) is used as a scientific method/discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent food-borne illness. The occurrence of two or more cases of a similar illness resulting from t ...

regulatory office. The revival of the Agriculture Ministry as a cabinet-level office in 2009, and the appointment of

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of th ...

Legislator

Julián Domínguez Julián Andrés Domínguez (born 24 November 1963) is an Argentine Justicialist Party politician of the Justicialist Party. He was twice Minister of Agriculture, in the cabinets of presidents Alberto Fernández (2021–2022) and Cristina Fern ...

to the post, was followed by Casamiquela's appointment as President of the INTA by Minister Domínguez in October of that year. Casamiquela oversaw the continued revitalization of INTA, which grew from 3,500 employees in 2003 to 7,200 by 2010, while focusing its efforts on the promotion of

local agriculture Local food is food that is produced within a short distance of where it is consumed, often accompanied by a social structure and supply chain different from the large-scale supermarket system. Local food (or "locavore") movements aim to con ...

and small farmers (who employ 54% of all agricultural workers in Argentina). INTA's ''Prohuerta'' program, launched in 2005, provided assistance to 630,000

market garden A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumer A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or s ...

s and 148,000 small farms by 2013, as well as 19,000 rural families in

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

. Other highlights during his tenure include an instructional program for

intensive agriculture Intensive agriculture, also known as intensive farming (as opposed to extensive farming), conventional, or industrial agriculture, is a type of agriculture, both of crop plants and of animals, with higher levels of input and output per unit of ag ...

methods initiated in South Africa, and the approval for import by

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

of two of INTA's

GMO A genetically modified organism (GMO) is any organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. The exact definition of a genetically modified organism and what constitutes genetic engineering varies, with ...

soy and one GMO maize varieties. A cabinet reshuffle by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in late 2013 led to the resignation of Agriculture Minister Norberto Yauhar and his replacement by Casamiquela. His nomination was welcomed by the head of the influential Argentine Rural Confederations (CRA), Rubén Ferrero, who remarked that "we've know him for a long time, and he's knowledgeable about the problems facing agriculture in Argentina; we hope he'll be given the necessary latitude to implement the policy changes we've been advocating for some time now." He died from COVID-19 on 12 September 2020, during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina The COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). On 3 March 2020, the virus was confirmed to have spread to Argentina. As of , a t ...

References

External links

Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería y Pesca

INTA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Casamiquela, Carlos 1948 births 2020 deaths People from Viedma National University of La Plata alumni Argentine agronomists Ministers of agriculture of Argentina Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina