Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza
research institution in Costa Rica

The Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza or CATIE) is an international institute for agricultural development and biological conservation in Central America and the Caribbean, combining science, education and innovation. CATIE is the first graduate school in Agricultural Sciences in Latin America.
History
CATIE's origin dates back to October 7, 1942 when the Inter-American Institute for Agricultural Sciences (IICA) was founded. From its inception, the Institute's mandate has centered on research and education in agriculture and natural resources in the American tropics. The Graduate School began its operations in 1946.
In 1960, IICA's General Directorate was moved from Turrialba to San José, Costa Rica; research and teaching activities continued in Turrialba. Agriculture, from the beginning, implied a broad spectrum of activities and disciplines including crop production, livestock management, renewable natural resources and the social and economic dimensions of these fields of endeavor. Eventually, the Turrialba base of the Institute was transformed into a Center for Education and Research (CEI). Over a nine-year period, beginning in 1960, significant changes led to a strengthening of training opportunities for Latin American professionals, thereby laying the 6 groundwork for agricultural development in the region. In 1970, the Center for Education and Research was named the Tropical Center for Education and Research (CTEI).
The public source identifies “Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza” as research institution in Costa Rica. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Centro, Agronómico and Tropical.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza”, the useful work is to connect “research institution in Costa Rica” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 22, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q17183894. VIAF identifies the subject as 169297542. The Library of Congress control number is n79045597. Authority coordinates are 9.893, -83.654. 2 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1942, 1946, 1960 and 1970.
Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza primary sources, Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza archive and Centro research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza”?
- Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
- What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.