Al Jazeera | 11 October 2011

Farmers in Argentina are facing competition from foreign firms that want to buy up land to plant crops.

In the southern Patagonia region, China's Beidahuang food company plans to lease over 300,000 hectares of land to grow genetically modified soya, corn and other crops.

The Chinese have also agreed to invest in infrastructure and to rebuild the badly damaged irrigation system in the area.

The locals are, however, worried about the environmental damage that comes with the excessive use of agrochemicals in large scale farming.

Teresa Bo reports from Rio Negro.