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DISCUSSION of RESEARCH RESULTS
How well has the North Florida Farming Systems Project rapidly but accurately identified problems faced by its clientele?. How successfully have its research efforts addressed these problems? How well has the approach generated truly "systemic" research designs?
Problem Identification
The FSR/E team has had 3 years of feedback regarding its efforts from farmers, county agents, IFAS research scientists, local advisory committees, and internal and external review teams. The concensus of these groups is that the program has rapidly and fairly accuLitely identified a number of key .problems faced by the clientele, and moved to find alternative technologies.
Columbia county agent William Thomas reported in April, 1984, that the FSR/E team generated research which otherwise would not have been conducted in the region. The advisory committee of multicounty agent Mazilyn Swisher commented in March, 1984, that in general, te FSR/E work was reaching important conclusions about winter grains and tropical corn. The committee members were interested in the longer-term results from the fertility trials, and desired more record-keeping activities, including training in using records. The only research thrust the committee did not strongly support involved perennial peanut.
Systemic Solutions
The FSR/E approach Ccolement 'ii ting research and extension efforts by investigating "systemic" solutions to clientele problems. A "systemic" solution is one which is adjusted and relevant to the felt needs, resources and practices characteristic of a particular farming system. This is sometimes called "adaptive research.' Commodity research and systems research are complementary. The value of the systems approach is that it increases the utility and probability of adoption of commodity research by making sure that such research is designed to meet systems needs. Alternatively, no farming systems project can move forward without sound commodity research.
As indicated previously, during the discussion of clientele problems and constraints, alternative solutions proposed by the