Argentine government to limit foreign landowners (AP)

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina ? Argentina is imposing tough new limits on foreign ownership of farmland.

A ruling majority in the senate was expected to approve a law Thursday night barring non-Argentines from holding title to more than 2,500 acres. Nationwide, the law would prevent any more than 15 percent of the farmland from falling into foreign hands.

A key part of the law would create a national land registry, enabling the government to figure out for the first time who owns what.

President Cristina Fernandez is getting a range of new tools from Congress that she's expected to use to assert more control over the nation's key agricultural industries. The Senate also passed new penalties against tax evasion and money laundering, schemes allegedly used by multinational agriculture companies to spirit profits out of the country.

Congress also eliminated a dictatorship-era arrangement that allegedly enabled union and farm industry power-brokers to parcel out jobs and stifle complaints among farmworkers.

The government now will require all farmworkers to get an eight-hour day, weekends off and minimum wages, among other benefits.

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111222/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_argentina_foreign_land_limits

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