Luis Colcombet has retired from INTA after 33 years researching silvopastoral systems. He argues that a livestock operation can incorporate close to 30% of the forestry potential without giving up grass, diversifying risk and building capital on the farm.
Across much of Misiones and Corrientes the dilemma of trees or cows began to lose its meaning some time ago, and much of that change is down to Luis Colcombet, an agronomist who has just retired from INTA after 33 years devoted to researching silvopastoral systems, which combine forestry and livestock production on the same land.
"No dilemma, where possible, trees plus livestock": that is how the specialist summed up his recommendation. As he explained, the combination works because it allows one activity to support the other, diversifies risk and leaves the producer with capital that does not necessarily depend on the financial circuit. "It is worth remembering that Argentina also has a high financial cost, because you are putting two eggs in different baskets. You are building capital without necessarily entering a financial circuit," he said.
The idea seems simple, but behind that coexistence lie years of learning to define how many trees can be planted, how much shade the operation tolerates, how to sustain grass production under the trees and how far one activity can be intensified without harming the other. Colcombet summed it up as a question of balances. "You have to understand that there are ranges of complementarity and of competition," he noted.
If the main objective of the farm is livestock, he explained, roughly "30% of the forestry potential" can be incorporated and still remain within a range where both activities complement each other. "If you want more trees you will have to start sacrificing livestock potential," he warned.
Colcombet's long learning process led to changes in the forestry designs used in the region. Experience showed that an excess of shade harmed the livestock component and later forced costly thinnings. For that reason, one of the challenges was to design plantations that required fewer interventions and that, at the same time, made it possible to reach trees of larger diameter and better-quality wood.
The economic origin of the combination is also down to earth. There were times when producing large volumes of wood at low prices stopped being attractive. Opening up the plantations made it possible to obtain thicker, better-paid trees, but it also generated greater vegetation growth beneath them. "So we said: could we replace the understory with livestock? That was the question," he recalled.
Something similar happened on the livestock side: in times of low cattle prices, adding forestry appeared as a way to build capital on the farm with a long-term view. Over time other advantages emerged, such as soil conservation, nutrient cycling and a more benign environment for both the animals and the people who work in the field.
The now-retired researcher made clear that there is no recipe that can be copied identically on any farm. "Everything depends on each farm. The recommendation we always give is that we be clear about what our objective is, how we want to sell, what cattle we want," he explained.
That long-term component is at once one of the strengths and one of the main difficulties for expanding these systems. A forestry plantation forces you to think beyond next month's prices. Colcombet offered an everyday example: a kiosk owner can stop buying a candy that is not selling that week, but in a forest plantation such a change of course is not possible.
It has already happened, he recalled, when good forestry prices led many producers to tilt their systems excessively toward trees. Today the situation is different: livestock farming is going through a more attractive moment while wood remains depressed. And that is precisely where another advantage of the mixed operation appears, the possibility of waiting: the tree stays standing as capital that can be sold later, when the market is favorable, while livestock continues generating income. "You have your own tool with something that, to a certain extent, you are managing," he summed up.
The accumulated experience has sparked interest abroad. Colcombet said that over the past two years they received foreign delegations interested in seeing INTA's silvopastoral operations, and he especially highlighted a visit from Australia. Those visitors arrived imagining they would find small demonstration trials and ended up interested in the system as an alternative for producing wood at lower cost and with higher quality. "They left thinking that with this system they could achieve cheaper, better-quality wood to meet the housing deficit they have in Australia. That is a very strong message. They perhaps understood it better than many of us," he said.
For Colcombet, behind all this there is also a broader discussion. For decades, much of agricultural production moved toward increasingly specialized systems: one area for crops, another for livestock, another for forestry. Agroforestry and silvopastoral systems are once again putting another logic on the table: integrating activities, but using knowledge and designs that make it possible at a productive scale. "We are learning, or coming back to appreciate and to see," he summed up.
In his farewell, the researcher gave thanks: "On Monday, November 2, 2026, I was informed that my retirement had been resolved and that I must resign from the institution. Thirty-three years of fruitful work have passed, with many achievements. They were made possible by the framework of institutional freedom to work, as long as one demonstrates the capacity to understand and to engage in dialogue, commitment and results, the explicit collaboration and integration into teams of countless colleagues across and throughout the country, especially in the north — researchers, extension agents, producers, communicators, administrative staff, support staff, planning, monitoring and evaluation of projects — and, above all, the enormous support and patience I have received from my wife Patricia and our son Maximiliano."
