program. The organization and management of FSR/E in a
particular country will depend upon the nature and
responsibility of existing institutions. In several
countries, of which Guatemala is the best documented
example, separate institutes were created to carry out
on-farm research. In other countries, limited
agro-technical and agro-biological research is already
being carried out on farms, and some socioeconomic and
physical resource information is being collected and
analyzed by a wide variety of services, industry groups,
and universities. In some country settings, it is the
extension organization which is better prepared to conduct
on-farm or applied research and which may provide the
impetus for an FSR/E program.

GETTING AN ON-FARM RESEARCH PROGRAM STARTED

 For most institutions, when adding or expanding an
on-farm research program, some important reorganization
and reallocation of resources will be required. Most
larger research institutions are organized for program
implementation through several commodity and disciplinary
programs. It is rarely possible financially for each
program to initiate and carry out its own on-farm research
sequence, although some larger commodity programs may
already have a number of varietal trials on farms. From
several points of view, it may be preferable to form a
separate program group with responsibility for most
on-farm research activities. The actual conduct of trials
and surveys would be delegated to multi-disciplinary teams
assigned to specific regions or geographic areas. Team
composition and the process of defining and choosing
geographic areas are discussed later in this chapter.
 Many research institutions lack social science
groups, or, where they do exist, their programs are
usually considered to be totally separate from biological
programs. Successful on-farm biologic research programs
are dependent upon the professional inputs of agricultural
economists, sociologists, anthropologists, and extension
education specialists. These disciplines are critical but
research directors and others in authority may need to
assure that they are represented and accepted as full
participating members in planning and implementing all
programs of work. Each of these disciplines has an