# yhdistysmuotoinen



## Gavril

Päivää taas,

I'm not sure what _yhdistysmuotoinen _means in this context:




> PTT on voittoa tavoittelematon yhdistysmuotoinen tutkimuslaitos, jonka jäseninä on muun maussa maa-, metsä- ja
> elintarvikealojen yrityksiä.



"PTT is a nonprofit research institute [in the form of an association?] whose members include companies in the areas of agriculture, forestry, food and more."

Also, is it correct to translate _maa-alan yritys_ (in the phrase _maa-, metsä ja elintarvikealojen yritykset_) as "agricultural company"?

Kiitos


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## Hakro

Gavril said:


> "PTT is a nonprofit research institute in the form of an association whose members include companies in the areas of agriculture, forestry, food and more." This is a correct translation.
> 
> Also, is it correct to translate _maatalousalan yritys_ (in the phrase _maa-, metsä- ja elintarvikealojen yritykset_) as "agricultural company"? _"Maa-alan yritys"_ is misleading as it often means earthwork company.


_"- - - muun muassa maa-, metsä- ja elintarvikealojen yrityksiä"_ in the original sentence is not exactly correct although you can guess that _"maa-"_ refers to agriculture and not earthwork.


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## Gavril

Hakro said:


> "PTT is a nonprofit research institute in the form of an association  whose members include companies in the areas of agriculture, forestry,  food and more." This is a correct translation.



Could you briefly explain what _yhdistys _means in a business context? I think that's what confused me initially.

Kiitos vielä kerran


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## Hakro

_Yhdistys_ (association) is an organization that doesn't aim to direct profiting although it can handle even large sums of money. In a business context it can be for example a research institute (like here) that can give information to the companies that are financing the research work. Also it can be an interest group that takes care of relations between an industry and the government. 
Read also http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yhdistys_(Suomi).


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