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.

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.

The Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) was definitively established as an autonomous entity dedicated to research, higher education and outreach activities.

Eighteen years later, in 1991, the governing body of CATIE was constituted to create a wholly independent Board of Directors made up of well-renowned individuals from throughout the world who represent “no one but themselves”, thereby providing autonomy and stability to the institution.

Today, CATIE is an international, non-profit institution dedicated to research, higher education and outreach in agricultural sciences, natural resources and related topics in the American tropics.