AGRICULTURAL-RESEARCH IN DEVELOPED-COUNTRIES - PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE OF FARMING SYSTEMS RESEARCH AND EXTENSION

In the developed countries, the conventional experiment station-based agricultural research system generally has served farmers well. In developing countries, however, the same model has had less success in addressing needs of many farmers, particularly those operating diversified farming systems in resource-poor and risk-prone environments. Hence, in the 1970s, the farming systems research and extension (FSRE) approach-which has a high degree of complementarity with experiment station-based research-evolved to address their needs. Prior to this was the development of some analogous farm-based approaches in the USA (e.g., balanced farming). In the USA, increasing concerns about limited research resources and ecological sustainability have sparked interest in harnessing the power of the farm-based and systems-oriented FSRE approach in a way that is complementary to other approaches and in a manner that produces results acceptable to all stakeholders (e.g., farmers, station-based researchers, extension/development staff, and planners of policy/support systems).