Indian Institute of Farming Systems Research was established by renaming Project Directorate for Farming Systems Research by Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi at Modipuram, Meerut (Uttar Pradesh). Earlier,It was named as Project Directorate for cropping System Research and the project was operating as All India Coordinated Agronomic Research Project (AICARP) since 1968-69 to coordinate agronomic research at national level. During mid-eighties it was realized that component approach of crop research is not sufficient to boost and sustain high yield levels, attained during green revolution period. Consequently, AICARP was upgraded to the level of Project Directorate with a vision to strengthen all aspects of system based crop research at national level.

Further, during the year 2009-10 the PDCSR was re-named as “Project Directorate for Farming Systems Research (PDFSR)”. It took one year for transformation and research work in farming system perspective could start during 2010-11. At present, in addition to campus based research at Modipuram, Project Directorate for Farming Systems Research is operating through All India Coordinated Research Project on Integrated Farming Systems with 42 on-station, 32 on-farm and 5 voluntary research centers spread throughout the country in five major ecosystems, i.e., arid, semi-arid, sub-humid, humid and coastal representing 15 agro-climatic zones to develop location specific system based technologies. The Network Project on Organic Farming remained operational since 2004-05 with its 13 cooperating centers spread over 12 states of the country. The major research programmes identified were Integrated Farming System Management (IFSM), Cropping System & Resource Management(CSRM), Organic Agriculture System(OAS), Technology Transfer & Human Resource Development(TTHRD).