National agricultural programs in South Asia often do not engage in strategic research to address critical biophysical constraints or poor farmer needs. I have been involved in building and facilitating functional relationships between international and national NGOs, community based farmer groups, agricultural extension and national agricultural scientists, so that research activities become more demand driven and relevant to farmersÕ needs. I also utilize my technical expertise to help national scientists and students in South Asia design and carry out probing and meaningful experiments to address critical issues related to soils, such as alternative tillage approaches, residue/biomass use for soil improvement, soil micronutrient deficiencies and improving soil biological health conditions. These connections also involve efforts to improve the technical capabilities of national scientists to adequately measure critical soil chemical properties or to assess the quality of their existing data.