AN AUSTRALIAN CONTRIBUTION TO FARMING SYSTEMS RESEARCH IN INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS

摘要

Australia is known globally for success in dryland agriculture, but the reasons behind the success are less well understood. Sometimes the productivity or disease resistance of improved breeds, pasture species or crop cultivars have been extolled, butthe complementary farming systems research (FSR) process - of testing, fine-tuning and evaluating the combinations of improved germplasm, crop/ livestock/pasture management practices and, increasingly, markets and policy conditions - has been frequentlyoverlooked. The essential role of FSR of increasing overall research productivity, through complementing disciplinary and commodity research, requires a shift of focus to farmer-centric investigation. Research targeted to homogeneous farming system domains, combining participatory field experimentation with simulation modelling and implemented by small multi-disciplinary teams with adequate budgetary and stakeholder support has been a hallmark of FSR. Cooperating with farmers while interacting with disciplinary and commodity researchers, landscape managers, agribusiness and policy makers are critical attributes.During six decades of FSR application (from 1960) there has been a progressive broadening of agricultural research and development agendas. Farming has evolved, differentiated and responded to new opportunities and risks associated with natural resources, climate, technologies, markets and policies. The responsiveness of the agricultural sector as a whole to such changing circumstances depends ultimately on the management decisions of millions of farmers as well as service providers and value chain entrepreneurs who connect consumers to farmers. As circumstances changed, FSR approaches and practices were enriched in order to contribute to the broader agendas such as food and nutrition security, poverty reduction, equity and sustainability.