This article is a comparative study of two state-based lines of research in Argentina. One involves the development of herbicide-resistant rice varieties by the main state agency devoted to agricultural research. The other is the development of a national inventory of glaciers by another state-run scientific institution. Different document sources were used for this analysis (papers, institutional and regulatory documents, print media), and interviews were carried out with scientists, technicians, and residents. The study found that the same logic was applied to the different scenarios in which the State and scientific-technological knowledge conducted different interventions. That logic focused on promoting commodity-centered science, which constitutes a fundamental input for the current pattern of extractivism.