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

São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...

, Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

. Its main objective is to generate and transfer scientific and technological knowledge in agribusiness

Agribusiness

In agriculture, agribusiness is a generic term for the various businesses involved in food production, including farming and contract farming, seed supply, agrichemicals, farm machinery, wholesale and distribution, processing, marketing, and retail sales....

 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

Instituto Agronômico de Campinas

The Instituto Agronômico de Campinas is a research and development institution affiliated to the Agência Paulista de Tecnologia dos Agronegócios , of the Secretary of Agriculture of the state of São Paulo, Brazil, with headquarters in the city of Campinas...

 (IAC -Agronomical Institute), the Instituto Biológico

Instituto Biológico

Biological Institute 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 rabies and tuberculosis, sanitary advertisement campaigns, alternatives to the chemical...

 (Biological Institute), the Instituto de Economia Agrícola

Instituto de Economia Agrícola

The Instituto de Economia Agrícola , linked to the Agência Paulista de Tecnologia dos Agronegócios is a major public scientific research institute on economics and statistics applied to agricultural and farming questions, established in São Paulo, Brazil...

(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, organization of the rural and outlaying 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.

Source

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

23°38′55.88"S 46°37′37.74"W