ABSTRACT
The interactions of climate, soil and the local environment will always determine the degree of choice available to a farmer in regard to what crops he should grow or which animals he should rear. The biological forces acting against maximum food production are far too powerful, persistent and capable of continual modification for them ever to be finally defeated. The very most that scientists and farmers can hope to achieve is to restrict their influence. Changes in the pattern and distribution of farming systems, such as the migration of vegetable production towards the east coast, have produced a similar separation by distance of research and practice. Proximity, accessibility, and the increased chances of informal personal contact between research workers and the farmers whose problems they are investigating are important for another reason. Every country has its own system of passing new ideas and information to the farmer, which depends to a large extent on sociological and political structure.
