The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa - ) is a state-owned

research Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...

corporation affiliated with the Brazilian

Ministry of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

. Since its inception on April 26, 1973, it has been devoted to developing technologies, knowledge and technical-scientific information aimed at Brazilian

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

, including

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

.Brazilian scientists turning nation into an agro-power
''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', October 16, 2010 Their mission is to "develop research, development and innovation solutions for the sustainability of agriculture, for the benefit of Brazilian society". Embrapa's organizational structure is composed of 46 centers that can be divided into Research Units or Service Units, and of 17 Central Units that comprise the corporation's headquarters. Such research centers are distributed throughout the country in nearly all Brazilian states. The corporation currently employs over 9,790 people, of which 2,444 are researchers. Embrapa is part of the National Agricultural Research System (SNPA - ''Sistema Nacional de Pesquisa Agropecuária''), which also comprises federal and state public institutions, universities, private companies, and foundations, which cooperate to conduct research in different geographical areas and fields of knowledge.

International cooperation

In terms of international cooperation, Embrapa has bilateral agreements for technical cooperation with a number of countries and institutions, and multilateral agreements with international organizations, especially concerning joint research activities. It also has established their Labex (''Laboratórios Virtuais no Exterior'' or Virtual Laboratories Abroad) to develop research and prospect trends in the United States, France, United Kingdom, Netherlands and South Korea. There is an office in

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

to disseminate scientific and technological knowledge in African countries, with plans for future offices in

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

aimed at

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

Embrapa Research Units

Product-based research centers

Embrapa Units whose work targets national or regional agricultural product chains. * Embrapa Beef Cattle,

Campo Grande Campo Grande (, ) is a city in the Central-West Region, Brazil, central and western Regions of Brazil, region of Brazil, Capital city, capital of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. Historically a Fortification, stronghold of Separatism, separatists ...

, MS. Research and development for the

beef cattle Beef cattle are cattle raised for meat production (as distinguished from dairy cattle, used for milk (production)). The meat of mature or almost mature cattle is mostly known as beef. In beef production there are three main stages: cow-calf opera ...

production chain. * Embrapa Cassava & Tropical Fruits,

Cruz das Almas Cruz das Almas (translation: Souls' Cross) is a municipality, in the state of Bahia, in Brazil. Founded in 1897, it is home to the Federal University of Recôncavo da Bahia and is one of the main cities of Bahia. In 2022, it had a population of ...

, BA. Research and development for

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although ...

and tropical fruit production chains. * Embrapa Cotton,

Campina Grande Campina Grande is the second most populous Brazilian city in the State of Paraíba after João Pessoa, Paraíba, João Pessoa, the capital. It is considered to be the most important city of the Northeastern Brazilian subregion called ''agreste''. ...

, PB. Research on cotton, castor oil plant, peanuts, sesame, and sisal. * Embrapa Dairy Cattle,

Juiz de Fora Juiz de Fora (; ), also known as J.F., is a city in the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, approximately from the state border with Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro. According to the 2022 census the current population is 54 ...

, MG. Research and development for the milk and dairy production chain. * Embrapa Fisheries and Aquaculture, Palmas, TO. * Embrapa Forestry,

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

, PR. Research and development on cultivated and natural forests. * Embrapa Goats and Sheep, Sobral, CE. Research and development on goats and sheep. * Embrapa Grape & Wine, Bento Gonçalves, RS. Research on grapes, wine, apples, and other subtropical fruit. * Embrapa Maize & Sorghum,

Sete Lagoas Sete Lagoas (meaning 'Seven Lagoons' in Portuguese) is a city in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. The municipal area is 537;km2 while the population was 241,835 in 2020. Geography Location Sete Lagoas is situated about 70 kilometres from Be ...

, MG. Research and development for the production chains of

maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

sorghum ''Sorghum bicolor'', commonly called sorghum () and also known as great millet, broomcorn, guinea corn, durra, imphee, jowar, or milo, is a species in the Poaceae, grass genus ''Sorghum (genus), Sorghum'' cultivated for its grain. The grain i ...

, and other tropical cereals. * Embrapa Rice and Beans,

Santo Antônio de Goiás Santo Antônio de Goiás is a municipality in central Goiás state, Brazil, located just north of the state capital, Goiânia. *Distance from Goiânia: 42 km. with connections by way of GO-462. Location Neighboring municipalities are: *north ...

, GO. Research and development for rice and bean production chains. * Embrapa Soybean,

Londrina Londrina (, literally "Little London") is a city located in the north of the state of Paraná (state), Paraná, South Region, Brazil, and is 388 km (241 miles) away from the state capital, Curitiba. It is the second largest city in the state and f ...

, PR. Research and development on soybean, sunflowers and wheat. * Embrapa Swine & Poultry,

Concórdia Concórdia is a city in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. It was founded by colonizers of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, basically descendants of Italians and Germans, who immigrated to Brazil in the 19th century. It is located 480 km west o ...

, SC. Research and development for the swine and poultry production chains. * Embrapa Vegetables,

Distrito Federal A federal district is a specific administrative division in one of various federations. These districts may be under the direct jurisdiction of a federation's national government, as in the case of federal territory (e.g., India, Malaysia), or th ...

, DF. Research and development for vegetable production chains. * Embrapa Wheat,

Passo Fundo Passo Fundo is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the north of the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. It is named after its river. It's the tenth largest city in the state with an estimated population of 204,722 inhabitants ...

, RS. Research on wheat,

triticale Triticale (; × ''Triticosecale'') is a hybrid of wheat (''Triticum'') and rye (''Secale'') first bred in laboratories during the late 19th century in Scotland and Germany. Commercially available triticale is almost always a second-generation ...

, barley, rye, oats and soybeans.

Basic theme research centers

Embrapa units that work on basic themes that cut across several production chains, and support the other research centers. * Embrapa Agriculture Informatics,

Campinas Campinas (, ''Plains'' or ''Meadows'') is a Brazilian Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in São Paulo (state), São Paulo State, part of the country's Southeast Region, Brazil, Southeast Region. According to the 2020 estimate, the city's popul ...

, SP. Research on information technology for

agribusiness Agribusiness is the industry, enterprises, and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in the bio-economy, in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise. The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit ...

. * Embrapa Agrobiology, Seropédica, RJ. Research and development on soil biological processes (e.g. biological

nitrogen fixation Nitrogen fixation is a chemical process by which molecular dinitrogen () is converted into ammonia (). It occurs both biologically and abiological nitrogen fixation, abiologically in chemical industry, chemical industries. Biological nitrogen ...

) and on agroecology. * Embrapa Agroenergy,

Brasília Brasília ( ; ) is the capital city, capital of Brazil and Federal District (Brazil), Federal District. Located in the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region, it was founded by President Juscelino ...

, DF. Research and development on energy production (e.g. biodiesel,

biogas Biogas is a gaseous renewable energy source produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste, Wastewater treatment, wastewater, and food waste. Biogas is produced by anaerobic ...

, etc.) based on agricultural raw materials (oils, fats, vegetable biomass, forests). * Embrapa Environment,

Jaguariúna Jaguariúna is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Campinas. The population is 58,722 (2020 est.) in an area of 141.39 km2. The elevation is 584 m. This place name comes from the Tupi ...

, SP. Research on environmental management. * Embrapa Food Agroindustry,

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, RJ. Research on

food technology Food technology is a branch of food science that addresses the production, preservation, quality control and research and development of food products. It may also be understood as the science of ensuring that a society is food secure and ha ...

. * Embrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology,

, DF. Research on

biotechnology Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...

biological control Biological control or biocontrol is a method of controlling pests, whether pest animals such as insects and mites, weeds, or pathogens affecting animals or plants by using other organisms. It relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or o ...

genetic resources Genetic resources are genetic material of actual or potential value, where genetic material means any material of plant, animal, microbial genetics, microbial or other origin containing functional units of heredity. Genetic resources is one of the ...

, and biological security. * Embrapa Instrumentation,

São Carlos São Carlos (Saint Charles, in English, ; named after Charles Borromeo, Saint Charles Borromeo) is a Brazilian city and municipality in the Interior of São Paulo, interior of the state of São Paulo, 254 kilometers from the city of São Paulo. ...

, SP. Research on

precision agriculture Precision agriculture (PA) is a management strategy that gathers, processes and analyzes temporal, spatial and individual plant and animal data and combines it with other information to support management decisions according to estimated varia ...

, biotechnology, process automation, new materials, family farming and family agroindustry, the environment, and the quality of products and raw materials. * Embrapa Satellite Monitoring,

, SP. Research on

geographical information systems A geographic information system (GIS) consists of integrated computer hardware and software that store, manage, analyze, edit, output, and visualize geographic data. Much of this often happens within a spatial database; however, this is not ...

, electronic networks, and on the obtention and processing of satellite images and of field data. * Embrapa Soils,

, RJ. Research on

soils Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by restri ...

and soil-environment interactions. * Embrapa Tropical Agroindustry,

Fortaleza Fortaleza ( ; ; ) is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeastern Brazil. It is Brazil's 4th largest city—Fortaleza surpassed Salvador, Bahia, Salvador in 2022 census with a population of slightly over 2.4 mi ...

, CE. Research and development on the tropical fruit agroindustry (cropping, processing, storage).

Ecoregional research centers

Embrapa units that either work to perfect the agricultural production chains that are more relevant to a given region or

biome A biome () is a distinct geographical region with specific climate, vegetation, and animal life. It consists of a biological community that has formed in response to its physical environment and regional climate. In 1935, Tansley added the ...

, or to catalog, classify, assess, and conserve local natural resources. * Embrapa Acre, Rio Branco, AC. Agroforestry systems, and on Acre state natural resources and production chains. * Embrapa Agrosilvopastoral, Sinop, MT. Agrosilvopastoral systems (integrated crop-livestock-forestry systems). * Embrapa Amapá,

Macapá Macapá () is a city in Brazil with a population of 512,902 (2020 estimate), and is the capital of Amapá state in the country's North Region, Brazil, North Region, located on the northern channel of the Amazon Delta near its mouth on the Atlant ...

, AP. * Embrapa Cerrados, Planaltina, DF.

Cerrado The Cerrado () is a vast ecoregion of Tropics, tropical savanna in central Brazil, being present in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Maranhão, Piauí, Bahia, Minas Gerais, São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Paraná ...

agricultureand natural resources. * Embrapa Coastal Tablelands,

Aracaju Aracaju () is the capital of the state of Sergipe, Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country on the coast, about 350 km (217 mi) north of Salvador, Bahia, Salvador. According to the 2020 estimate, the city has 664,908 inha ...

, SE. * Embrapa Cocais, São Luís, MA. * Embrapa Eastern Amazon,

Belém Belém (; Portuguese for Bethlehem; initially called Nossa Senhora de Belém do Grão-Pará, in English Our Lady of Bethlehem of Great Pará), often called Belém of Pará, is the capital and largest city of the state of Pará in the north of B ...

, PA. Eastern portion of the

Amazon Biome The Amazon biome () contains the Amazon rainforest, an area of tropical rainforest, and other ecoregions that cover most of the Amazon basin and some adjacent areas to the north and east. The biome contains blackwater river, blackwater and whitewa ...

. * Embrapa Mid-North,

Teresina Teresina is the capital and most populous municipality in the Brazilian state of Piauí. Being located in north-central Piauí 366 km from the coast, it is the only capital in the Brazilian Northeast that is not located on the shores of th ...

, PI. * Embrapa Pantanal,

Corumbá Corumbá () is a municipality in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, 425 km northwest of Campo Grande, the state's capital. It has a population of approximately 112,000 inhabitants, and its economy is based mainly on agriculture, ani ...

, MS.

Pantanal The Pantanal () is a natural region encompassing the world's largest tropical wetland area, and the world's largest Flooded grasslands and savannas, flooded grasslands. It is located mostly within the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, but i ...

. * Embrapa Rondônia,

Porto Velho Porto Velho (, ''Old Port'') is the capital (political), capital of the Brazilian States of Brazil, state of Rondônia, in the upper Amazon River basin. The population is 460,434 people (as of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, ...

, RO. * Embrapa Roraima, Boa Vista, RR. * Embrapa Semi-Arid,

Petrolina Petrolina is a municipality located in the southernmost point of the state of Pernambuco, in Northeast Brazil, in the valley of the São Francisco River. The population was 354,317 in 2020, and the total area is km2, making it the largest ...

, PE. Brazilian semi-arid, especially for the Caatinga biome. * Embrapa South Livestock,

Bagé Bagé () is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. In 2020, its population was 121,335 in a total area of 4,096 km2. It is the seventeenth largest city in the state according to the 2011 census. The city was f ...

, RS. Meat and dairy cattle and sheep. * Embrapa Southeast Livestock,

, SP. Beef and dairy cattle production chain and

horse breeding Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given Horse breed, breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired chara ...

in the Brazilian Southeast. * Embrapa Temperate Agriculture,

Pelotas Pelotas () is a Brazilian city and Municipalities of Brazil, municipality (''município''), the fourth Largest cities in Rio Grande do Sul by population, most populous in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, after Porto Alegre, Caxias do Su ...

, RS. Temperate climate regions of Brazil. * Embrapa Western Region Agriculture,

Dourados Dourados is a city and municipality, situated in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Southwest of Campo Grande (the state's capital). It has a population of about 225,000 inhabitants, and its economy is based mainly in arable agriculture ( ...

, MS. Western Brazil. * Embrapa Western Amazon,

Manaus Manaus () is the List of capitals of subdivisions of Brazil, capital and largest city of the States of Brazil, Brazilian state of Amazonas (Brazilian state), Amazonas. It is the List of largest cities in Brazil, seventh-largest city in Brazil, w ...

, AM. Agroforestry systems, and on the natural resources and production chains in the Western portion of the Amazon Biome.

References

External links

EMBRAPA's official website

Embrapa's YouTube Channel

Brazilian Agricultural Research Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria Government-owned companies of Brazil Research institutes in Brazil Agricultural organisations based in Brazil Agricultural research UNESCO Science Prize laureates