Ah yes, the other thought I had on this topic: Do we really have the knowhow? Go back and read research papers from 10, 20, 30 years ago. What they all have in common is complete confidence in their recommendations. Everyone thought they had the answers and called it the Green Revolution. OK, did some people a lot of good but looking back we can see it created a whole lot of problems as well. For 10 years IWMI touted "participatory irrigation management" as the answer to irrigation woes. Final analysis: results mixed, at best. So what makes us so sure we have the knowhow? Farmers tend to know what's good for them, like cheap diesel pumps, then researchers come along and 'discover' the benefits of cheap diesel pumps and set about telling farmers that's what they need.
Ah yes, the other thought I had on this topic: Do we really have the knowhow? Go back and read research papers from 10, 20, 30 years ago. What they all have in common is complete confidence in their recommendations. Everyone thought they had the answers and called it the Green Revolution. OK, did some people a lot of good but looking back we can see it created a whole lot of problems as well. For 10 years IWMI touted "participatory irrigation management" as the answer to irrigation woes. Final analysis: results mixed, at best. So what makes us so sure we have the knowhow? Farmers tend to know what's good for them, like cheap diesel pumps, then researchers come along and 'discover' the benefits of cheap diesel pumps and set about telling farmers that's what they need.