Beef cattle production systems in a major pastoral area of Southern Chile are identified and characterized based on groups of land use combinations. The objective of this study was to identify, characterize and describe the evolution of beef cattle production systems in the Araucania region and determine their relationship with the use of instruments of agricultural support public and private. Data obtained from two agricultural census (INE 1997, 2007) were used as characterization variables, for differentiation of groups, identification of dependency relationships between group, herd size, social aspects, and agricultural development programs. The largest land use system corresponded to the combination of native pastures, improved pastures, perennial and annual forages, forest species, and cereals. Three combinations of land use systems were selected to represent the total number of farms in the region. Significant differences in quantitative and qualitative variables between groups and years (P≤0.01) were observed.