Of agricultural systems and systems agriculture : systems methodologies in agricultural education

In his editorial in the foundation issue of Agricultural Systems in 1976, Colin Spedding, with characteristic confident assertion, posited that 'it is now generally recognized that whole agricultural systems deserve to be studied in their own right' (Spedding, 1976a ). In later statements he warmed to his theme: 'The study of agricultural systems is a proper concern of many different sorts of people' (Spedding, 1976b ), and that this is not surprising, given that 'agricultural research and development are generally aimed at the improvement of systems' (Spedding, 1978). Given the inherent seduction of this logic and despite significant calls for change framed with similar sentiment (Coombs and Ahmed, 1974; Bawden et al., 1984; Chambers, 1987; Stansbury and Kunkel, 1987), it is disappointing to note how rarely the twin foci of situation improving and systems understanding are central to debates about reform in agricultural education.