Abstract
Initially, Farming Systems Research took the farm as a starting point for an analysis of a broad range of issues linked to agricultural production. Soon afterwards, it was recognised that to understand farming, the scale of analysis needed to be broadened, to capture the interactions between farms and their natural, social and economic context. Topics of research now range from on-farm issues such as interactions between crop production and animal husbandry, to farmer pluriactivity, civic food networks, and how cultural landscapes are shaped by farming activities. Underlying this breadth of topics, three characteristics are identified as being constituent of Farming Systems Research: systems thinking, interdisciplinarity and a participatory approach to research. In this chapter we discuss these three characteristics, and the challenges they pose in their operationalization. Given these challenges, we discuss the reasons why Farming Systems Research is demanding, and we highlight that the core quality of a researcher is reflexivity, in designing, in implementing and in evaluating research.
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Notes
- 1.
In this text, when we use ‘farmer’ we do not imply an individualistic decision-maker. The term is used as shorthand for the family farm household. We are fully aware that in many cases the various household members will have different perceptions, preferences and priorities, thus resulting in tensions and on-going negotiations about what to do, how to do it, and why.
- 2.
Whereas this distinction is generally applicable, there are of course exceptions, e.g. Colin and Crawford (2000) use the label ‘agricultural system’ but give farmers a key role. Similarly, Cochet (2012) uses ‘agrarian system’ but highlights the difference in the francophone and the anglo-saxon use of the terminology.
- 3.
Some authors may call it a transdisciplinary approach. Transdisciplinary is then understood as striving to transcending the disciplinary divide and the science-society divide (Pohl 2005).
- 4.
- 5.
This is often referred to as the ‘productivist’ model of agricultural development.
- 6.
- 7.
With the possible exception of France, where the ‘approche globale’ (global approach, see Bonneviale et al. 1989; Brossier and Hubert 2000) is part of the standard curriculum, helping students to understand the interdependencies between biological, technical and social aspects of a farm, as well as the interdependencies between farms and their agro-ecological, economic and social context. INRA research institute is also now promoting interdisciplinary and system approaches. Of course this is not a guarantee that the ‘global’ or systemic approaches will not be applied in a normative way, focused on the ‘efficiency gap’, reduced to a simple ‘how to’, without reflexivity.
- 8.
For example, within the European Federation for Animal Science (EAAP) a permanent working group on Livestock Farming Systems has been established, thus recognizing its contribution to the scientific debate. Also, the number of scholarly journals that accept interdisciplinary papers is clearly on the rise.
- 9.
While new terms can help clarify distinctions, we would like to caution against the unwarranted coining of new terms, especially for further development of existing concepts or for overlapping concepts. The proliferation of terms tends to lead to confusion, especially with younger researchers who may find it difficult to dissect the overlaps between seemingly (un)related concepts.
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Darnhofer, I., Gibbon, D., Dedieu, B. (2012). Farming Systems Research: an approach to inquiry. In: Darnhofer, I., Gibbon, D., Dedieu, B. (eds) Farming Systems Research into the 21st Century: The New Dynamic. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4503-2_1
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