supplementary relationships between resources and enterprises, and
 the derivation of solutions compatible with the needs and capacities
 of farming families. The farming systems farmers practiced
 traditionally recognized such relationships-for example crops and
 livestock, staggered planting dates, etc.' To ensure that the
 integrative and beneficial relationships are adequately considered
 and exploited requires a multidisciplinary team-both technical
 and social scientists-working together at all four stages of the
 research process.

 5.6 The process of FSR is recognized as being dynamic and iterative
 with linkages in both directions between farmers, research workers,
 and funding agencies, rather than simply the presence of forward
 linkages characteristic of the "top-down" approach. The iterative
 characteristic can improve the efficiency of the research process
 through providing-a means to fine-tune improved technologies to a
 specific locale.

 5.7 Finally, FSR complements, and does not compete with, other research
 approaches. The complementarity is illustrated through FSR
 contributing in two ways:

 (a) Fine-tuning through adaptive testing at the farm level those
 technologies developed on experiment stations through "upstream"
 FSR and the more conventional reductionist approach (both
 contribute to the "body of knowledge"). Successful testing
 gives rise to successful dissemination (all other things being
 equal), resulting in improvement of farming families' welfare.
 (b) Failure under adaptive testing at the farm level results in
 closer specification of requirements for improved technology
 development that can be fed back to experiment station based
 research programs outside the FSR program itself. Hopefully,
 this will contribute to the development of improved technologies
 that will improve the welfare of farming families in the future.

6. Methodological problems of the FSAR

 6.1 Due to the fact that the methodology for undertaking "downstream" FSR
 is still going through a period of evolution, a large variety of
 methodological issues require resolution. Not surprisingly perhaps,
 there are often considerable differences in opinion as to how severe
 they are and how they should be dealt with. Some of the most frequently
 mentioned methodological issues follow.

 6.2 How holistic should FSR be? As mentioned earlier, the methodological
 problems increase as the FSR program becomes more holistic, i.e., the
 ratio of variables to parameters becomes higher. Also stressed
 earlier was the fact that the present state of the arts of undertaking
 FSR means that most current work is on the crop process and is largely
 confined to development of improved technologies. Practical problems
 also restricting the scope of "downstream" FSR are the mandates of
 institutions in which they are located, i.e., usually technical crop
 research institutes, poor or weak linkages with other research
 institutions, and policy-making and farmer contact agencies. Related to