ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with a group of upland farmers in northern Thailand who faced the problems associated with fundamentally changing their rotational fallow agricultural systems to intensified cash crop production. It sets out to understand and document a remarkable innovation that they began as an experiment, in the absence of outside advice or interference. Over 15 years, it has developed into a successful simultaneous fallow system. It is remarkable not only for its success, but also because policymakers and development or extension agencies frequently neglect or look down upon farmers’ perceptions and their wisdom in matters of agricultural production.
