Since 1973, the CIAT Bean Progam has focused on disease resistance breeding, with selection for performance under low input conditions and adaptation to farmers’ current production systems. This strategy was chosen to make new bean technology more accessible to resource poor farmers in low income countries than had been the products of the Green Revolution approach of selecting for maximum yield under optimum high input conditions. A case study of adoption of new disease resistant bean varieties among small farmers in Costa Rica shows that the disease resistance strategy has resulted in varieties that improve productivity even in farmers’ traditional shifting cultivation system. However, many small farmers are finding it advantageous to intensify management in order to raise the gains from the new varieties. Such success in a disease resistance, small farm‐oriented crop improvement program, depends critically on strong national agricultural research capacity, and a continuing commitment to deploy new resistance sources in locally adapted materials.