Structural adjustment, liberalisation and the pressures of technological change are having major impact on the institutional organisation of the agro-industrial sector. In industrialised countries, the private sector is positioned to play the vanguard role in the next generation of agricultural technologies. Thus, the ability to promote and sustain new patterns of co-operation in research and development between the private and the public sectors will be a key determinant of future patterns of competitiveness.

This study of Brazil attempts to identify the main lines of technological and organisational innovation at present under way in important sectors of the Brazilian agricultural research system. It focuses on three crops -- soybeans, wheat and sugar -- which are strategic from the point of view of structural adjustment and liberalisation and at the same time involve both export and domestic markets ...