The Agência Paulista de Tecnologia dos Agronegócios (APTA – São Paulo's Agency for Agribusiness Technology), linked to Secretaria de Agricultura e Abastecimento (Secretariat of Agriculture and Supplies), came about in 2001, in order to coordinate all agriculture and cattle raising research in the state of

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. Its main objective is to generate and transfer scientific and technological knowledge in agribusiness, thereby harmonizing the socio-economic development with environmental balance. The main innovation in this reorganization was the creation of 15 regional poles of development, spread throughout the state. APTA has guided itself by the prospects of technological demands, and does it regionally, as an instrument to guide the research of the entire agency. In addition to the poles, APTA's structure encompasses the six research bodies of the Secretaria da Agricultura and Abastecimento (SAA – Secretariat of Agriculture and Supplies) – the Instituto Agronômico de Campinas (IAC -Agronomical Institute), the

Instituto Biológico Biological Institute (''Instituto Biológico'' in Portuguese) is an applied research center organised in 1924 in São Paulo, Brazil. It is a governmental organisation concerned with the prevention of zoonoses and foodborne animal pathogens such as ...

(Biological Institute), the Instituto de Economia Agrícola (IEA - Agricultural Economics Institute), the Instituto de Zootecnica (IZ - Zoo technical Institute), the Instituto de Pesca (Fisheries Institute) and the Instituto de Tecnologia de Alimentos (ITAL – Food Technology Institute). The agency centers its activities on four strategic programs: bioenergy,

environmental sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...

, organization of the rural and outlying areas, and food safety. As the second largest agribusiness technological research institution in Brazil and the Southern Hemisphere, APTA features 64 experimental units and 43 research laboratories.

References

*MAGALHÃES, G.W. (coord.) Secretaria de Agricultura e Abastecimento do Estado de São Paulo. São Paulo: Governo do Estado de São Paulo, 2008.

External links

Official site of APTA
Agronomy Agricultural research institutes in Brazil {{Brazil-gov-stub