Mixed farming is often seen as an important route to meeting the vital twenty-first century challenge to increase productivity and sustainability of small-scale African farming systems. Discussions of mixed farming often assume that such systems represent part of a natural evolutionary progression towards an ideal state. Drawing on detailed case studies from Mali, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, this collection questions such evolutionary concepts, because they fail to recognise the diverse pathways of change that occur in agricultural systems, and the wide range of technology options that are pursued by farmers and herders.