The coming hail-control season in southern Mendoza is now marked by an open dispute between San Rafael and the provincial government. Mayor Omar Félix requested three aircraft, a transfer lasting at least eight years and provincial funding for 50% of operations. Production Minister Rodolfo Vargas Arizu rejected the plan, confirmed that Mendoza will provide two aircraft and said direct assistance to farmers will remain the official priority.
Félix argued that a third plane is needed as backup while the other aircraft land, refuel and reload flares and cartridges. With only two, the municipality says, intense storms could leave periods without coverage. The request has gained urgency because forecasts linked to a strong El Niño episode could increase hail formation and require continuous flights over extensive agricultural areas.
The municipal proposal also allocated costs. San Rafael asked the province to cover half of operations, with San Rafael and General Alvear paying the remaining 50% in a 70–30 split based on protected acreage. It also sought provincial funds for maintenance, workshops, seeding material, insurance, airport infrastructure, radar and weather information—components without which aircraft alone cannot operate.
The two municipalities have run the aerial system in the south for two seasons after the province changed its direct involvement. General Alvear Mayor Alejandro Molero said his municipality has the logistics and infrastructure to continue. San Rafael also accepted maintaining the operation, but made continuity conditional on broader provincial financing. The conflict concerns scale, responsibility and resources rather than the existence of the system itself.
Vargas Arizu refused to expand the transfer and challenged the statistical basis used to defend aerial suppression. The province cited ten seasons of data: of 136,809 hectares with climate-related losses, 104,428 hectares, or 76.3%, were damaged by frost, while 32,381 hectares, or 23.7%, suffered hail. The government used that comparison to justify giving direct compensation more weight than a third aircraft.
The debate pits two productive-policy criteria against each other. Municipalities say aerial prevention limits damage before it occurs and protects crops, jobs and regional activity. The province answers that frost accounts for more than three quarters of affected acreage and resources should therefore prioritise financial assistance. Neither approach removes the other risk: one season can combine severe hail, low temperatures and limited budgets.
San Rafael placed average annual damage at roughly 5,300 hectares over the last two decades, with lower levels in the two latest seasons: about 2,300 hectares in 2024/25 and 2,900 in 2025/26. The municipality treats the decline as evidence for the system. The province says causation has not been proved and compares the figures with frost damage. That technical dispute will shape the split between prevention and compensation.
Before storm season begins, the parties must define the transfer of the two planes, maintenance conditions, inputs and operating budget. San Rafael may accept the reduced scheme, reformulate its request or seek additional contributions with General Alvear and growers. The province has set one limit: there will be no third aircraft. What remains is whether two planes can support a shared operation or whether the conflict will continue into the agricultural season.
