It was four years ago that Joe Luter flew to Buenos Aires, hopped a plane
southwest to the city of San Carlos de Bariloche, then took a drive
through
Argentina’s Lake District.
 Anfiteatro and the world-famous Limay River in
the Argentinian province
of Neuquén (Click image to
enlarge)
“I was just swept away by it all; spectacular
mountains,
gorgeous rivers and so much wide-open land. It just
kept going and
going and going,” says Luter, the chairman and
CEO of Smithfield Foods.
“I told
myself I’d be a fool not to
buy something here.”
Shortly
after that trip,
Luter
became the owner of a 25,000-acre estancia, or
ranch, that featured
four
miles of frontage on the Rio Limay, which
flows east from
Lago Nahuel Huapi
through the dry steppe of northern
Patagonia. It is an internationally renowned
fly-fishing haven
and home
to monstrous brown, rainbow and brook trout. Luter
says neighbor and
media titan Ted Turner owns a 55,000-acre
spread nearby. “When
people
ask me what Patagonia is like, I
tell them to think of Colorado 150 years
ago,” says Luter, who has
since bought a second property, a 50,000-acre
working
ranch
and fly-fishing lodge near Esquel, a few hundred miles to
the south.
“It’s
the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen.”
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