“Saber para produzir, produzir para melhorar”: a Junta Nacional das Frutas e a investigação agronómica em Portugal

Abstract

During the Portuguese dictatorship, the application in Portugal of the agrarian policy knew, in the first moment, an autarchic intention and, later, an economic internationalization. In order to meet these objectives, a number of institutions have been invited to collaborate, among other functions, to promote scientific research and scientific production. This article attempts to address the importance of one of those organisms, the National Board of Fruits and its contribution to the development of Portuguese agronomy. We try to understand and analyse the proposals of a scientific nature of this organism, during the 1930s and the 1970s, and its impact on agricultural scientific practice.

Keywords

• agronomy
• scientific research
• new state
• national board of fruits