The objective of AE/NRM R&D programs should be, in the first instance, to identify, encourage
and diffuse concrete innovations by farmers in managing natural resources.
Most of these innovations fall into two broad categories: 1) Bio-technical practices at the farm-family level in the areas of crop farming, forestry, animal husbandry, fisheries etc. This is the most common target of most agricultural research centres (ARCs), especially the commodity-based ones. 2) Collective mechanisms of managing and controlling common property resources and ecosystems. The importance of this topic has been understood more recently, and is given more consideration by ARCs working on broad agro-ecosystem approaches or on policy issues,
such as CIFOR or ILRI.