The purpose of this article is to present the institutional framework, the knowledge base and the co-evolution of firms and other actors in different phases of the Brazilian agricultural transformation processes. These processes can be understood as an ongoing catching-up model, from the green revolution of the 1940’s, coming from abroad, to the recent technological leadership in tropical agriculture. That is to say: the institutional framework of these phases is quite different, new types of organizations are emerging as far as new ways of innovating, at the same time that the technological frontier is moving ahead.