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In the first part of this paper we identify some of the factors that have limited the success of impact assessment, including the use of benefit-cost analysis as the paradigm for impact assessment. We then present a new approach to integrated assessment of agricultural production systems called Tradeoff Analysis that can be used for impact assessment. This approach has two principal features: first, it is participatory in the sense that stakeholders are integrated into the process of impact assessment; and second, it provides a systematic method to integrate disciplinary data and models to support informed policy decision making. In the final section of the paper, we use our experience in developing and testing the Tradeoff Analysis approach to assess the ways that this new paradigm for impact assessment may overcome the factors that have limited the success of impact assessment in the past.