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The agricultural system in the United States is a complex structure that interweaves a myriad array of high- and low-tech techniques for livestock and crop production. This system has evolved – and continually changes and advances – because of contributions and innovations from many players, including private industry, public research organizations, and agricultural producers.

Agricultural research management continues to evolve in US land-grant institutions. However, to some extent, it is still guided and constrained by historic legislation that specified the institutional structure within which publicly funded agricultural research is conducted in the United States. The legislation created the unique US institutions generally known as Land-Grant Universities, Agricultural Experiment Stations, and Cooperative Extension Service.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) supports extramural agriculturally related science through the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES).

In Nigeria, agricultural research, in its ramifications of plans, strategies, programmes, governance, and management, dates back to over one century. The profile is characterized by three periods: the first generation (1893–1955); research institutes (1975–2006). These have culminated in 17 agricultural research institutes, which respectively deal with specific, narrow range of commodities and are predominantly crop-based, with only five dealing with livestock, animal heath, and fisheries, respectively, and are described below.

INRA, the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (see Annex 1), was set up in 1946 and is a public-sector establishment whose activities cover the areas of agriculture, diet and nutrition, and the environment. It is the leading European agricultural research agency in terms of its scientific yield in the life sciences (animals and plants) and the environment (its core mission) and the second largest in the world behind the ARS-USDA. Its missions are research, the transfer of research results and their exploitation, international cooperation, the dissemination of scientific and technical information, training in research and through research, expertise and decision-making support for government policies.

Today India has one of the largest agricultural research systems in the world. The history of Indian agricultural research system is traceable back to more than 12 decades. The earliest event related to agricultural research in India was the establishment of Departments of Agriculture in each Indian Province in 1880 under the British rule. This was based on the recommendations of the Famine Commissions. An appointment of the first agricultural scientific staff under the Central government was made in 1887. The early agricultural research system evolved very slowly with the establishment of research institutions such as the Imperial Bacteriological Laboratory (which later became Indian Veterinary Research Institute) in 1889, the Imperial Agricultural Research Institute (which later became Indian Agricultural Research Institute) in 1905, and the Imperial Institute of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (which later became National Dairy Research Institute) in 1923.

Mainly due to its geographic position, easy access to the sea as well as to surrounding countries in Western Europe, flat and fertile soils and large numbers of human populations nearby, agriculture in the Netherlands was, and still is, an important economic activity. It ranks second worldwide as exporting country for agricultural products. This enormous achievement for such a small country is traditionally explained by its very effective cooperation between education, extension, and research: the EER triptych.

The beginning of agricultural research in most countries was based on a tradition of farmer’s experience. In Israel – or Palestine as it was in the 19th century – the farming communities were mainly the Arab fellah type of dry farming, as practiced for more than 2,000 years, on a subsistence level. More so, not only advanced farming knowledge was lacking, but also the first Jewish settlers were lacking any agricultural experience.

It is difficult to present concluding remarks regarding the chapters included in this book on Agricultural Research Management, as problems, agro-climatic conditions, marketing, farmer’s knowledge and attitudes, and political systems vary from country to country. Nevertheless, we tried to point out some common traits and deficiencies in our present system.