Addressing the Needs of Small-Scale Farmers in the United States: Suggestions from FSR/E

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Small farms make up about seventy-five percent of all the farms in the United States and form a vital part of many rural and peri-urban communities. We examine the potential of Farming Systems Research and Extension (FSR/E), a set of concepts and methodologies that has been used widely in overseas agricultural development activities, to address the diverse needs, goals and objectives of small farmers in North America. We discuss the major characteristics of FSR/E and use the example of Waimanalo, a diverse peri-urban community in Hawaii, to propose some ways that FSR/E has been and could be further incorporated into extension efforts.