ABSTRACT
Farmers in high-income countries (HICs) have historically been effective in articulating their needs–not only technological but also institutional–via more responsive research and extension systems, commodity-based groups and lobbying platforms. Since the 1970s the 'top-down' agricultural research/developmental paradigm has been criticised for excluding the farmers. It was this need that led to the emergence of farming systems research (FSR). This chapter examines the origins of FSR and the path and reasons for its evolution and transformation into what is called integrated systems research (ISR). Until the 1960s, there was little research collaboration between technical agricultural scientists, economists and anthropologists/sociologists. Methodologies for eliciting the attitudes and expertise of smallholder farmers have evolved greatly since the 1970s, thus creating more avenues for their involvement in identifying and implementing relevant research and development initiatives.
