ABSTRACT
Much criticism of modern agriculture focuses on agricultural research. The perspective of researchers has been too narrow, it is claimed: agricultural research has produced manifold social and environmental consequences both unintended and undesirable. This chapter suggests that ways in which looking at research agendas as ideological can help administrators anticipate the consequences of research. It deals with two questions: what is agricultural research? and what is a research agenda? “Agricultural research” is an ambiguous concept. People may speak of agricultural research both as an instrument of purposive social action and as autonomous. In agriculture, research agendas are often agendas for social change, sometimes for fairly significant change. Hypothesis language underscores the need to make epistemic and practical decisions in the process of agricultural research that are glossed over by the language of discovery and development. Agricultural research agendas are, in an important sense, agendas of action.
