President José Antonio Kast on Wednesday asked farmers for a "vote of confidence" in his government. He spoke at the Encuentro Nacional del Agro (Enagro) 2026, a national farm-sector conference organized by the Sociedad Nacional de Agricultura (SNA), the sector's main trade association.
According to La Tercera, the president acknowledged that the country is "struggling with unemployment." However, he said economic activity will pick up starting next year.
"If you give us that vote of confidence, next year will be an extraordinary year", he said. He added that people will see "the cranes start moving, the cold storage plants start operating, logistics and transport start moving."
According to T13, Kast arrived at the event with the ministro de Hacienda (Finance Minister), Jorge Quiroz, and the ministro de Agricultura (Agriculture Minister), Jaime Campos. He told attendees that his administration is moving forward "step by step" and that the public is "going to be surprised," as he said has happened on other issues.
To back up his argument, the president cited the passage of the Ley de Reconstrucción Nacional (National Reconstruction Law). "If I had asked several of the people here in March whether we would be able to pass it, they would have said 'no, it's impossible,'" he said. He also mentioned the law on rules for the use of force and the Sala Cuna (childcare) bill, whose general approval was passed 13-0 in the Labor Committee.
Kast blamed part of the pessimism on the press. "Some people stick with the big headlines, and hear some comments on the radio, and say, no, this is very difficult," he said. In his view, foreign investors are showing interest, as was evident last Thursday at the presentation of the Choose Chile program at La Moneda, the presidential palace. "What we lack is local confidence," he said.
The sources do not provide current unemployment figures or detail what specific measures would bring unemployment down in 2027. Nor do they report any public response from the SNA to the president's appeal.
On trade, the president singled out the subsecretaria de Relaciones Económicas Internacionales (Undersecretary for International Economic Relations), Paula Estévez. She is leading negotiations to lower the tariffs the United States imposed on Chilean products, a key issue for agricultural exports.
"International tensions have effects on a small country like ours," Kast acknowledged. He concluded: "We are pro-Chile. Beyond the disputes, the tensions that exist, what matters to us is Chile." The promise now faces a concrete test: the 2027 employment figures.
