Agricultural Systems 32 (1990) 305-320 Agricultural Technology Development and Dissemination within a Farming Systems Perspective* Joseph G. Nagy International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA), PO Box 362, Quetta, Pakistan & John H. Sanders Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA (Received I0 June 1988; revised version received 20 June 1989; accepted 30 June 1989) A BSTRA CT The aim of the paper is to give a current overview o f farming systems research (FSR). The coverage of FSR topics is sufficiently in-depth to allow an understanding of FSR concepts and operational procedures. Initially, a description of the basic concepts of thefarming systems research approach and a farming systems perspective are presented. The operational stages of conducting FSR are listed and discussed under the headings of" (1) Delineation of recommendation domains; (2) the descriptive and diagnostic stage; (3) the research design stage; (4) the on-farm testing and evaluation stage and (5) the dissemination and monitoring stage. The description and discussion of thefarming systems approach isfollowed by a discussion on the related FSR topics of" (1) The differences between experimental station and on-farm trials; (2) the evaluation of on-farm technology performance and (3) the stepwise adoption process of farmers. INTRODUCTION In developed countries the two-way linkages of communication between farmers and agricultural scientists function better than in developing * An early version of this paper was presented at the Joint International Association of Agricultural Economists/Chinese Association of Agricultural Economists Symposium on Rural Development Strategies, Beijing, China, 25-29 October 1987. 305 Agricultural Systems 0308-521X/90/$03"50 © 1990 Elsevier Science Publishers Ltd, England. Printed in Great Britain