FILE PHOTO: Juan Carlos Ardohain, 49, walks in front of his cattle, on a farm he rents in San Vicente, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina August 10, 2023. REUTERS/Tomas Cuesta/File Photo
Argentine President Javier Milei looks on as he is received by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, June 23, 2024. REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen

By Maximilian Heath

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) -Argentine farmers are renewing their vote of confidence in President Javier Milei ahead of Sunday's midterm elections, a crucial sector that the government relies on to generate much-needed foreign currency.

Support from farmers in Argentina, a leading global food exporter, will be crucial for the radical libertarian president, who hopes to substantially increase his minority representation in Congress.

Since taking office almost two years ago, Milei has enjoyed broad support from the agriculture sector, which shares his vision of unrestricted and deregulated markets.

Milei's government has moved in the direction of lowering unpopular export taxes. In July, the government reduced the export tax on soybeans and corn, the country's two main crops, by 20%. Although the taxes remain high, 26% and 9.5% respectively, Milei has promised to eliminate them completely.

"We need to give this government a vote of confidence," Martín Doffo, a 51-year-old farmer from the town of 25 de Mayo, in the province of Buenos Aires, told Reuters. "He wants to take the necessary path: tax reduction, lowering export taxes, and labor reform, all things we've been needing."

THE PERONIST 'RISK'

The main opposition force is the Peronist party led by former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who during her presidency clashed with the agriculture sector over protectionist export quotas and price controls.

"There are many producers who don't want Kirchnerism to return," said Horacio Deciancio, a 70-year-old cattle rancher from San Vicente, a rural town near Buenos Aires. He said that he is betting on Milei's "market-based economic policies, where supply and demand can open markets to the world."

Farmers whom Reuters spoke to also said they support labor reforms to increase the formal workforce that Milei has said he would push through the next Congress. They say that under the current system, there is too much bureaucracy involved in hiring workers.

Half of Argentina's lower Chamber of Deputies, or 127 seats, as well as a third of the Senate, or 24 seats, are up for election on October 26.

The Peronist opposition movement currently holds the largest minority in both houses and has about half of its seats in the lower house up for reelection. Milei's relatively new party, La Libertad Avanza, has only 37 deputies and six senators.

Political experts say that if Milei's party clinches more than 35% of the vote, that would be seen as a positive sign of growing support.

(Report by Maximilian Heath; Writing by Leila Miller Editing by Marguerita Choy)