FEDERAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH IN THE PERIOD BETWEEN THE OLD REPUBLIC AND THE NEW STATE

Abstract

The Ministry of Agriculture, extinct in the first days of the Republic, was reinstated in 1909 with the support of the agrarian aristocracy, which maintained its base in the composition of forces resulting from the Constitution of 1891. Then, the most sistematized research experiments appeared at that time, which had their greatest expression in the Sugarcane Agricultural Experiment Station, in Campos, State of Rio de Janeiro. Later, the Institutes of Chemical and Biological Pest and Disease Control became important. These, together with Specialized Services, composed the federal system of agricultural research until the end of the decade of the 1920's. The 1930 Revolution resulted in a restructuring of the technical-administrative units of research, later dispersed, placing them under the coordination of a General Administration of Scientific Research. Of an ephemeral nature, this Administration was soon substituted by the National Departments of Vegetal and Animal Production, to which institutes of experimental research and specialized services became subordinated. This situation prevailed until 1938 when federal agricultural research passed through a new reform, during the period of the New State, which resulted in the creation of the National Center for Education and Agricultural Research - CNEPA, formed by the Rural University and by the National Service of Agricultural Research - SNAPA.