Farming system research approaches and methodologies have emerged as a way to provide solutions to problems that could not be addressed through conventional "discipline-oriented" analyses. In a first stage, they were mainly used (i) to facilitate the transfer of technologies that had been previously designed and tested in experimental research centres and (ii) to assess the impact of such transfer. However, such application often faces limits, as they seldom allow to address properly the whole range of problems faced by the stakeholders under new and evolving circumstances. Moreover, the results often do not match neither the expectations created nor the facilities used. First is the need to shift from technology transfer to decision making support. This implies in analysing stakeholders' practices in order to understand their strategies and the technical, economic and social factors that influence their decision. The challenge is then to provide them with relevant and adapted information that can impact on decision making process. There is also a need to recognise new researchable issues derived from an analysis of the problems faced by stakeholders. In addition to practices analysis already mentioned, issues like marketing chains, dynamics of rural space at local government level or organisations for managing collective resources should be paid attention. There is finally a need to build up new partnerships, in order to address these issues in a participatory and more efficient manner and to satisfy expectations of rural stakeholders.