1 Farming and Rural Systems- State of the Art in Research and Development-

Farming systems research and extension have been given increasing attention in the last 30 years. In the 80’s it was felt, that there was an increasing need for exchange of different concepts and experiences among scientists all over the world. International Symposia on farming systems were held in the United States of America. As a consequence of this, in 1988 the International Association of Farming Systems Research and Extension (AFSR+E) was founded. Today on all continents, regional associations or groups are active and follow common goals as follows: a) to overcome the methodological bottlenecks of strictly disciplinary approaches and high level specialisation in research by strengthening the potential of synthesis of different methodologies developed and applied to different disciplines (e.g. natural sciences, social sciences) towards a systems methodology which internalises the interrelationships between sectors of disciplines. b) to overcome the empirical bottlenecks resulting from a gap between the results of disciplinary-based research and farmers ’ behaviour and decision-making by integrating farmers (target groups) and institutions related to agricultural development at variou