The assumption underlying this hypothesis is that farmers lack the knowledge, resources, or both to adequately prevent, anticipate, prepare for, cope with, and recover from shocks. Extension and advisory services may be able to rectify this information asymmetry, or knowledge inequality, by providing or facilitating access to a variety of assets. These services could also promote resilient agricultural systems by relaying farm‐ level challenges and potential solutions to policymakers in a timely manner to enable them to make better‐informed policy decisions. Although there is an increasing base of literature on extension and advisory services, their role in building resilience in particular has not yet been explored empirically. The literature on resilience in general is itself only in the nascent stage. However, past intervention efforts that attempt to move from emergency responses to long‐term development indicate that without well‐capacitated systems for implementing interventions, such a transition could be difficult.2 This brief explores the sustainable‐livelihoods framework to conceptualize the capacity needs of resilience‐focused extension and advisory services. It indicates where to move the policy and research agenda forward with regard to the role of extension and advisory services in building resilience.