ABSTRACT
In writing this book we set out to explore the agricultural research process and its limitations within the context of agricultural development over the last century in both the UK and overseas. The broad aim has been to raise some of the issues surrounding the establishment, functioning and constraints of the researcher–farmer chain from the perspective of the agricultural scientist/researcher. Given that the nature and form of this relationship has changed with time, and has varied between countries, it has been necessary to explore the evolution of these linkages in something of a constrained context – the UK and its ex-empire – but much of what has been said would apply to other parts of Europe and elsewhere. Included within this temporal and spatial analysis has been a discussion of the external pressures that have acted as overall drivers, including their effectiveness and their limitations.
