Promoting Local Innovation in Rural Agriculture: Experience and lessons for urban settings

William Critchley, Chesha Wettasinha and Ann Waters-Bayer

In: UA Magazine no. 19 - Stimulating Innovation in Urban Agriculture

Since agriculture began some 10,000 years ago, it has been shaped and spread almost exclusively by the farmers themselves, and for the most part without the help of scientific research or extension agencies. Farmers came up with ideas, carried out experiments and arrived at their own conclusions. Innovation by farmers was the way forward: this local innovation, indeed, was the dynamic process that led to the development of farming traditions.