João Carlos de Souza Meirelles is Secretary of Agriculture and Food Supply for the State of São Paulo, Brazil. He graduated from the Politechnical School of the University of São Paulo as a civil engineer. He is an expert in agricultural production and the breeding of cattle.

Between 1964 and 1972, he served as an elected representative in the Municipal Chamber of the city of São Paulo. In 1971 he was elected president of the Chamber. In 1975 he founded the Business Owners Association of the Amazon Region. He served as its president until 1981. In 1983, he founded the National Council on the Cattle Industry (CNPC), and was served as its president until 1998. He has also served as president of the National Committee on Animal Health (Conasan).

From 1994 to 1996, he was coordinator of the "Fórum da Cadeia Produtiva da Pecuária Bovina" promoted by Mercosul. He is a member of the Hemispheric Committee for the Eradication of Foot and Mouth Disease, and participated in the Inter-American Meeting, at the Ministerial Level, on Health and Agriculture (RIMSA), sponsored by the Pan American Health Organization, in Washington, DC. He represented the Brazilian cattle industry at the meetings of the Group of Cairns, until 1998.

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