144 A long and rich history of the year

1997/07/01 Bengoa Ansa, Aitor Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Nekazaritza

Arkaute's building and laboratory, now known as CIMA, has almost a century and a half of history. During all these years, of course, there have been several incidents and have passed through different stages. He has been in the hands of three different public institutions during these years: Alava Territory (1853-1939), Spanish State (1940-1980) and Basque Government (from 1980 to present).

XIX. In the mid-twentieth century, at the time of the construction of the state railway network, the territories of Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa decided to promote agriculture and enter the Spanish market in the best conditions. By then there were already centers of this type in Europe in which the experimentation, training and agrarian dissemination were worked. In this context, the Agrarian Houses of the time arose: Erandio (1852), Arkaute (1853) and Tolosa (1855). Currently, only Arkaute survives.

When the General Boards of Alava decided to create the Arkaute Farm House, the Álava Provincial Council bought 72 hectares. In this plot, in addition to teaching and research, a productive exploitation was carried out.

Initially, from Arkaute, it was tried to transform and regenerate the agriculture and livestock of Alava. Among other things, new varieties of crops were promoted that fit local conditions, new breeds of beef and swine were imported, and new tools and machinery were released. As all these developments were reported through training, the centre was also called the Agrarian School. In addition to agriculture and livestock, students learned arithmetic, grammar and Christian morals.

Between 1870 and 1888 the self-financing of the centre was promoted, which significantly reduced economic and human resources. As if this were not enough, the operation of the House of Agriculture also detected wounds left by the Second Carlist War. Therefore, in the midst of crisis, research and teaching were abandoned and production exploitation began.

In 1888 things changed dramatically when the Alava authorities and lords once again believed it was a good time to give priority to agriculture and livestock and to promote research and teaching. In 1888 there were great changes in Arkaute. Rehabilitation of buildings, purchase of livestock, roturing of nearby land, large quantity of machinery, etc.

XIX. At the end of the twentieth century, although the beginnings were very good, again for monetary matters and the desire to obtain the profitability and self-financing of the center led him to close the House of Agriculture. The lands were exploited by private and private entities between 1925 and 1936. During the civil war (1936-1939), the buildings of Arkaute housed the German soldiers.

At the end of the war, in Alava there was no money to support the Rural House of Arkaute. In 1940 it remained in the hands of the State, always with the condition of promoting the development of the Alava agrarian sector.

At that time he was given a new name and became the Potato Improvement Station. Also carried out works of reform, especially to adapt the Investigation of the Potato and the demands that demanded the crops, since it was the only place in the state in which the potato was investigated. Despite the fact that in those years courses and practical sessions were organized, the training began to gradually abandon itself, focusing on research.

The Arkaute Agrarian School was founded in 1970, in order to offer the agrarian studies demanded by society, and since then, the Arkaute Farm House and the Arkaute Agrarian School, have been organized in a differentiated way and each of them has different functions.

In 1975 the livestock laboratory was created in Derio, when services were offered and few investigations were carried out.

As a result of the Statute of Gernika, the Agrarian School and the House of Agriculture (CIMA) and the Derio laboratory (SIMA) were transferred to the Basque Government. It was then that an authentic resurgence occurred and multiple lines of research were opened.