In a relatively short time, soybeans have vaulted to the top
position among Argentine crops. Considering the value of the
country's soybean production and that of its seed, oil and meal
exports, soybeans are now its No. 1 agricultural product.  The
explosion started in the 1970s, when Argentina's cumulative
annual growth rate of soybean production exceeded 50%, and
acreage increased from 37,700 hectares to 1,925,000 hectares.
Then, in the last 18 years, acreage increased 263%, to 7,176,000
hectares (18.5 million acres) in 1998. During that period,
acreage of other crops, mainly corn, wheat and sunflowers,
increased by only 4.3%.  However, soybean yield increases have
lagged behind those of other crops since 1980. That's thought to
be because part of the crop's fast expansion has been on lower-
quality land. But soybeans have remained more profitable than
other crops, despite lower yield gains. Crop cost and gross
margin data for Argentina's Pampean region show that soybeans
remained slightly more pro fitable t