Abstract

Through a study of the Sociedad Nacional de Agricultura (SNA)'s role in the economic policy debate over the 1889 and 1897 tariff reforms, as well as of its participation in the agricultural equipment business until the beginning of the 1920s, this article demonstrates that fostering technological innovation, and mechanization in particular, was a key component of the strategy this entrepreneurial association adopted in the political economy of the period from José Manuel Balmaceda's government to Arturo Alessandri's first administration. The paper establishes also that the dominance large foreign importing companies gained in the capital goods market, led to a restricted supply of agricultural machinery, which was an obstacle to the further diffusion of mechanization and limited agriculturists' investments.