USAID AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION: THE CONVENTION ESALQ/USP AND OHIO UNIVERSITY (1964-1985)

ABSTRACT Based on primary sources from the University of São Paulo (USP), this article analyzes the mutual articulations between the United States Agency for International Development (Usaid), the State University of Ohio and the Higher School of Agriculture "Luiz de Queiroz" of the USP during the period of the Brazilian military dictatorship of 1964-1985. It describes how this inter-institutional agreement promoted the conservative modernization of the rural sector, giving shape and structure to the contemporary agribusiness, through higher education, scientific research and rural extension. It is noted that this agreement transcended the mere scientific-technical assistance between the parties, conveying the intervention of the United States of America in Brazilian State, in the international context of Cold War, facilitating the lucrative development of its companies based in this South American country and influencing ideologically the rural sector.