The question of the resilience of farming system approaches and farming systems resulting from current changes in the agricultural sector has lead to the identification of 3 key challenges. These are (i) increasing competition, (ii) privatisation of agricultural research, and (iii) the transition towards a ‘risk society’. The way farming system approaches may turn these challenges into opportunities implies a major change: it is not enough to act locally and think globally. It is necessary to integrate various scales of analysis and various levels of action, and it is no longer enough to only act in the farming systems arena. One must also be heard in the policy making spheres and be active in the policy making processes. Although they require major adaptations, such changes appear to be consistent with the past trajectory of farming system approaches.