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Special Lecture.' Sustainable Intensification ofAgriculture 13These results are still preliminary, and future research will be modified based on what we learn in theprocess, but it is already clear that farmers' role in this research is invaluable.In many NARSs, both NOl1h and South, the lack of effective communication with farmers is stilla major weakness. To make matters worse, investment in formal, government extension services hasdeclined even more sharply than the investment in research. As disturbing as this trend may be, it hasopened new opportunities in some parts of the world for systems that are pr ving to be particularlyeffective. The defining trait of these new successes is that they are "farmer-driven." For example, morethan 40% of Australia's farmers belong to the LandCare movement. The movement comprisescommunity-based farmer groups who identify their own issues and priorities and then seek appropriateassistance from researchers, industry, and other farmers in identifying and implementing solutions.Increasingly, funding support is moving from government extension services to these dynamic farmergroups. Whilst examples from the North are not always appropriate to the South (and vice-versa),farmers' control of their own destinies in relation to technology adoption is fundamental to furtherprogress.any other examples of such an approach can be cited, but the general principle for the adoptionof the new GxExMxP paradigm is involvement of partners throughout the research-adoptioncontinuum. People and Partnerships, the title of CIMMYT's new Medium Term Plan, describes ourfocus on the people we seek to help and the partnerships necessary to do so. Sustainable agriculturewill not be a reality unless people from all parts of this continuum collaborate effectively to reach theircommon goal.Bringing It TogetherIn working along the research continuum towards farmers' adoption of sustainable systems, threechallenges present themselves. First, a range of technologies must be integrated at the fam1 level. Thisprocess is far more complex than promoting a single change in management in a farming system.Second, given the enormous size of the task literally every farmer's field in the w rId there must be aneffective and efficient way to "scale up" from individual research sites. This issue is particularlyimportant for CGIAR Centers working ecoregionally. Given these complexities, the third challenge isto develop and disseminate the information that all partners require to contribute effectively tosustainable farming systems.Fortunately the tools of modern science show significant potential to meet these challenges.Computer simulation models of crop and soil processes, GIS, and user-friendly infom1ation systemsare key elements of the research process for sustainable intensification of agriculture. Aside fromcontributing to the development of risk management strategies at both the farm and national levels,these tools are also the most effective means of extrapolating information in time and space -that is, inaddressing the issue of how to "scale up." To carry out the GxExMxP paradigm as effectively aspossible, IMMYT has recruited people with the skills to use and further develop these tools.One example of the further development of tools for sustainable agriculture is the SustainableFarming Systems Database (SFSD) currently being produced at CIMMYT. This database shouldvastly improve the collection, storage, and distribution of research information that is relevant toefforts to improve the sustainability of wheat- and maize-based farming systems. The S S is aflexible information system that brings together results on farming systems research, scaled from theexperiment level to the farm level and the regional level. Data types include experimental results,surveys, expert opinions, results of on-farm monitoring, census data, and scouting reports. Any datasource can be georeferenced and linked to information on researchers, institutions, and associatedbibliographic material. The SFSD permits flexible queries about locations; single crops or rotations;tillage and harvest practices; use of labor, machinery. and chemicals; and system performance. Datacan be extracted for use in other applications such as spread sheets. statistical packages, cropsimulation models, and GIS. Available on CD- OM and through the Internet, the SFSD will facilitatea global interchange of research experience related to cropping systems and their impact on theenvironment.