Farming Systems Research has three core characteristics: it builds on systems thinking, it depends on the close collaboration between social and biophysical sciences, and it relies on participation to build co-learning processes. Farming Systems Research posits that to contribute towards sustainable rural development, both interdisciplinary collaborations and local actor engagement are needed. Together, they allow for changes in understanding and changes in practices. This book gives an overview of the insights generated in 20 years of Farming Systems Research. It retraces the emergence and development of Farming Systems Research in Europe, summarises the state-of-the-art for key areas, and provides an outlook on new explorations, especially those tackling the dynamic nature of farming systems and their interaction with the natural environment and the context of action.

In recent years, policy makers have been paying more attention to the problems of small farmers in developing countries with the idea of increasing their pro-duction and standard of living. The policy makers' objec-tives are twofold: I 1 I to help those whose welfare is materially below the rest of society, and 121 to help a coun-try increase its agricultural production. With adequate agricultural policies, these two objectives are mutually reinforcing. For example, increased food production gives farm households additional food for consumption and surpluses for sale. Farmers can then use the money from these sales to buy items they do not produce, and the buyers of farm products benefit from the increased sup-plies.

Farming Systems Research (FSR) may be defined as a diagnostic process, providing a collection of methods for researchers to understand farm households and their decision-making. Its applications use this understanding to increase efficiency in the use of human and budgetary resources for agricultural development, including research, extension and policy formulation. Initiated by the then International Association for Farming Systems Research and Extension (now International Farming Systems Association) and developed with support from FAO, this book provides a detailed history of FSR. While it includes the application of FSR to developed country agriculture, its main focus is on FSR in its original role, with small-scale, resource-poor farmers in less developed countries.

A joint FAO and World Bank study which shows how the farming systems approach can be used to identify priorities for the reduction of hunger and poverty in the main farming systems of the six major developing regions of the world.