The Contribution of Participatory Research: On-Farm Research

Participatory research in agriculture may range from research and technology development (R&D), carried out on a research station with some involvement of farmers, through to genuine participatory research involving researchers and farmers working together. The latter involves the end-user in actually carrying out aspects of the research and/or in the development and evaluation of technology that is appropriate to commercial enterprises. Researchers often question the validity of the ‘findings of on-farm participatory research’ as they are more comfortable with the ‘controlled’ environment of the research station. However if research is to be applied appropriately on farms, it must go through a period of evaluation on-farm.

This paper summarises perspectives relating to participatory on-farm research, highlighting some opportunities that new technology is providing by considering five key areas as follows:

• Participatory research within the agricultural research enterprise (current situation);

• On-farm research compared with in-station research (options);

• A New Zealand example of on-farm research;

• New opportunities in on-farm research;

• Future models for participatory on-farm research.