RESEARCHER-PRODUCER INTEGRATION: AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH

Abstract

For agricultural research to be successful, especially for small and medium sized producers, it is becoming increasingly evident that experiments — whether biological or socio-economic — need to be carried out on the rural property, which represents a change in the focus of research which until a few years ago was carried out almost exclusively at experimental stations. Furthermore, an interdisciplinary approach to research, which should reflect the concrete reality of the rural scene, must be further developed. Certain conditions are necessary for the successful development of biological research on the rural property. Furthermore, specific methodology must be developed to obtain socio-economic information. This article is an attempt to summarize the author's experience in applying registers among farmers and in interdisciplinary action with biologists in field work together with rural producers. The sócio-economic registers of rural producers whose purpose was to replan the enterprise, had little success when they were very detailed and extensive. The experience showed that the use of partial registers, by farming or ranching product, which provide more motivation for the producer to register data about a specific piece of land and a specific crop or animal which interests him, is more efficient. Parallel research on the utilization and maintenance of machines, marketing of the product, quality of rural life, etc., complement the information obtained through the partial registers. They permit the reconstruction of the production unit in it's totality and permit the use of the information in investigations aimed at business planning with different strategies for managing production systems, including those whose purpose is to incorporate new technologies created by research.