Because of the multiple values and services that trees deliver to society, agroforestry is increasingly interpreted as an agricultural innovation that can help to address challenges in modern agriculture. Despite its potential opportunities in Flanders, many farmers remain skeptical though, resulting in adoption rates that are lagging behind. Therefore the objective of this thesis is to gain a better understanding of the unfavorable environment for agroforestry adoption and development making use of a farming systems research approach (FSR). In Chapter 2 we explain FSR as our general research approach, which implies the consideration of three key characteristics, i.e. systems thinking, interdisciplinarity and a participatory approach. Taking into account the general FSR characteristics, Chapter 3, 4 and 5 “diagnose” the agroforestry implementation gap more in detail. In chapter 3, we gain some first insights by assessing farmers’ intentions to engage in agroforestry and by giving an overview of the current agroforestry acreage in Flanders. In Chapter 4, we use the Agricultural Innovation Systems concept as general framework to identify the different stakeholders and their respective roles, and to give an overview of the different merits and failures with respect to agroforestry development. Afterwards Chapter 5 elucidates the different perspectives that exist on agroforestry systems among Flemish stakeholders, and links them with general discourses on agriculture in Flanders. Diagnostic analyses were followed up by design exercises in Chapter 6, which looks into different instruments that may give economic incentives to farmers to adopt agroforestry. Taking into account the gathered insights, we present in the main discussion chapter five development pathways to further stimulate agroforestry adoption and development: (1) the science and technology pathway, which stands for investing in research, especially targeting the productivity and compatibility of agroforestry systems, and this in active collaboration ...