São Paulo landowners and their projects for agricultural education: “Luiz de Queiroz” (ESALQ / USP) in Piracicaba (1881 – 1903)

Abstract

Current paper analyzes the advent of early projects in agricultural education, conceived on a practical and secondary level, in the state of São Paulo, which resulted in the establishment of ESALQ. After the first attempts by private entrepreneurs and later by the state government, the ESALQ was inaugurated in 1901. The first part of the paper focuses on the 1881 – 1901 period when school construction projects were endeavored. The second part deals with the 1901 - 1903 period featuring the hasty inauguration of the school and its precarious conditions. Research demonstrated that at the national and local levels, there were numerous impairments for the deployment of the modernizing projects, such as those involving agricultural schools. These included local conservatism, under developmentment and a still ‘colonial’ Brazil.