In the foothills of Southern Patagonia sits a quiet, unexpected monument to global commerce: a farm and its 60,000 inhabitants. They roam over more than 160,000 hectares, where their lives are largely free from danger or disease. They are, as the kids say, just built different.
These aren’t people. They’re the Marin Magellan Meat Merino Ram Stud – and they’re a pretty sustainable sheep.
When a family business finds another
Responsible for these herds is a family farm called Agromarin. Like so many family-owned businesses, it has a history of innovation, a desire to buck the system, ultimately leading somewhere unexpected: the shelves of the world’s largest retailer.
Mario Sanfuentas is a second-generation Chilean farmer and the CEO of Agromarin. He tells the story of how his dad and uncle, trained as engineers, acquired the farm – and the questions that followed.
“It’s fascinating how big a circle this is. My great grandfather sold to the same farms my grandfather would work in, then my dad and brother had specialized in building these ducts to connect oil wells to processing plants, so they’d walked every inch of this land. And in the 80s, someone suggested they diversify,” Mario said. “So, these two engineers, one mechanical and one electrical, went and bought a farm. But what to do with it?”
That question was answered in part by the climate.
The region of Patagonia where Agromarin operates is unique. It’s mountainous, it’s vast, and above all of this, it’s cold. These factors make it perfect for sheep farming.
To ensure their product was the best it could be, the brothers looked to another diverse climate: Australia. From here, Mario says, they imported the first merino sheep to Patagonia. Innovation was afoot.
Drawn to that innovation like moths to flame were the merchants at Walmart Chile, who heard of a sheep farm in the far reaches of Chile producing both meat and wool, with sustainability at the fore.
“What drove our attention was a local, sustainable, family-owned business,” said Claudio Stefanelli, general merchandising manager for Fresh at Walmart Chile. “There are so many aspects of that business that make it a good fit for Walmart.”
From Punta Arenas to the world
Agromarin sits a few hours outside the city of Punta Arenas, Chile. It’s one of the five Arctic Gateway cities, but it bears another distinction: Punta Arenas is home to the southernmost Walmart store on earth.
At 53 degrees south latitude, Punta Arenas is the farthest south city on the planet with a population of more than 100,000 people. And it lies at the end of a famed path, “Ruta Del Fin Del Mundo,” or the End of the World route. Punta Arenas is, among those who know it’s there, a place of near legend.
For Walmart, it’s another opportunity to make a difference in a community.
“The impact – to the supplier, and to the store – to bring the world’s largest retailer to Punta Arenas, this is incredibly unique,” Claudio said. “I don’t think most companies can make these commitments like Walmart can.”
And that commitment keeps growing.
In December, Walmart International CEO Kath McLay traveled to Punta Arenas, where she joined Walmart Chile CEO Cristian Barrientos in announcing a five-year, $1.3 billion investment in Chile. The investment will build 70 new stores and create some 4,000 new jobs, adding to Walmart Chile’s status as the third-largest employer in the country, where it already employs 40,000 Chileans.
Kath made the trip to visit Agromarin, where she got both a new hat and a new perspective.
“It was an honor to spend time in Punta Arenas, where I learned so much about the history of the region and its people,” Kath said. “And what I learned there makes looking forward even more exciting. We’re investing in Chile to bring places like Punta Arenas to the rest of the world. Until you’ve stood on a hill in Patagonia overlooking a sustainable farming operation, it’s hard to grasp the scale of wonder and opportunity here. And that’s just what we’re aiming to show people.”
Walmart’s global reach is exhibited uniquely in a city like Punta Arenas, where it identified a supplier like Agromarin to develop for the qualities each business values in common: entrepreneurship, innovation, principle and, more recently, an eye for sustainability. Which Agromarin has.
The whole animal, since 1996
Walmart and Agromarin have been in business for almost three decades. When they first teamed up, the farm was ahead of its time – and there it’s remained, prioritizing a business model that makes use of every sheep it raises.
Agromarin stocks the shelves of stores in Punta Arenas with meat, but it also exports the world over. And it isn’t just the meat – the wool gets used, too. Mario says working with Walmart has taught him lesson after lesson about growing a thriving business.
“Back in the 90s, we and Walmart, we were learning together!” Mario said. “All that I have learned on how to work with retail, I have learned it working with Walmart.”
Agromarin’s sheep is animal welfare certified by the Global Animal Partnership, which uses independent, third-party certifiers to audit farms and verify compliance to comprehensive animal welfare standards. In practice, these sheep live well. And with space.
“We don’t put our sheep in feed lots. Here, the minimum size of a paddock would be 2,000 hectares,” Mario said. “It’s immense. It’s overwhelming at times when you stand atop a hill – you can’t see where it ends.”
The room the animals have to roam truly is massive. The farm is just a touch bigger than Los Angeles at 160,000 hectares. And each paddock, at 2,000 hectares, is equal to nearly six Central Parks.
Mario says the farm prides itself not just on making more sustainable use of its animals, but on being stewards of the land too. As the largest lamb farm in Chile, they strive to set an example, taking a long-term view of their pastures, rotating how and where sheep graze to let pasture regenerate. Agromarin has been USDA certified organic (farm and plant) since 2021.
“You’re not only taking care of the animals, you’re also taking care of the soil,” Mario said. “Why? Because we want this land to last hundreds more years.”
The story of Agromarin may sound uncommon. But at Walmart, it rings all too true. Each company uses business to bring opportunity to the communities it serves. Even in its farthest corners, doing business more sustainably can bring better to the world.
“In a family company, you can tell: Everything is done with love,” Mario said. “Every little thing has a story.”
