Greener pastures.

For centuries, war and famine forced poor Irish farmers to leave home. Now, on the heels of a tech-driven economic boom, newfound prosperity is allowing the Irish to take their farms with them--to Argentina. For a minimum US$500,000 investment, Agro-Terra, the brainchild of a U.K. investment banker Mark McLoman and Irish tillage farmers Jim McCarthy and Walter Furlong, is inviting Irish farmers to get a piece of the southern cone's famed bread basket.

So far, 80 investors have raised $55 million, purchasing a 3,500-hectare farm and a 5,000-hectare farm outside Buenos Aires. First harvests were expected in May. "The project's appeal is clear," says Furlong. Land, for one, is 20 times cheaper compared to Ireland. Farmers draw water from the 37,000 cubic-kilometer Guarani aquifer and can use the largest oil-seed port in the world at Rosario. And, Argentine land laws do not favor domestic farmers over foreigners. "For all these reasons, we chose Argentina before Brazil, the Ukraine and the U.S. Midwest to base our operations," Furlong says.

Agro-Terra is capitalizing on increased demand for commodities such as corn and soy to make food, clothing, cosmetics, rubber and alcohols and biofuels. Annual returns of up to 10% are expected, which would be a rarity in 21st century Ireland, where farmers are strangled by high land prices and competition from abroad.

That doesn't mean farming in South America is a cakewalk, say locals. "We can never predict the effects of global warming on crops, nor can we predict market forces and prices. Over-cultivation of [genetically modified] soy and double-cropping has led to serious soil erosion in Argentina in the past," says Miguel Rivas, a third-generation Argentine corn farmer. "The Irish will need to do some serious homework to avoid this."