MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Change in Argentine cabinet: new Agriculture secretary

New Agriculture Secretary Carlos Cheppi

Argentina's new Agriculture Secretary takes the oath of office on Wednesday. Carlos Cheppi replaces Javier de Urquiza one of the first victims of the four month long stand off between the administration of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and the protesting farmers.

Cheppi an agronomist and researcher was head of the Agriculture Technology Institute, INTA, and has, strangely enough, a good relation with the Kirchners and is respected by farmers' organizations. In 2003 he drafted the agriculture policy program for then presidential hopeful Nestor Kirchner, and had been insistently named as a candidate for the Agriculture Secretary. In the draft of 2003 he wrote that once the government managed to balance its accounts, and given budget margin, "export taxes on grains and oilseeds should be gradually eliminated". However when the hearings on the controversial Resolution 125, which was finally voted down in the Argentine Senate, the Kirchners major political defeat, Cheppi defended the government's position with numbers and statistics. Cheppi was born in Mar del Plata and has been linked to INTA since graduating from Mar del Plata's Agriculture School. He helped implement the agriculture technological agreement with Venezuela which included the sale of over 100 million US dollars in Argentine farm equipment. As an expert in direct sowing and soil conservation he has acted as advisor in Mexico and South Africa. Cheppi is identified as belonging to the team of Federal Planning minister Julio De Vido one of the strong men of the Kirchner's cabinet and directly responsible for energy and distributing public works.