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SASCP

Professor Ferdi Meyer is a seasoned agricultural economist with over two decades of experience in market and trade modelling, value chain analysis, strategic foresight, and scenario planning. As a founding member and Managing Director of the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP)—an independent think tank established in 2004—he has played a key role in cultivating national and international networks, guiding private sector investments and policy choices, and advancing sustainable development across the agricultural sector on the African continent.

In addition to his role at BFAP, Professor Meyer serves on the boards of several companies and is a Trustee of the Protein Research Foundation. He was recently appointed as a non-executive director of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB). He also holds the title of Professor Extraordinary in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Stellenbosch University and is a frequent speaker at national and international forums.

Raised on a crop and livestock farm in South Africa’s North-West Province, Professor Meyer’s deep-rooted connection to agriculture continues to shape his work. He lives in Kroondal with his wife and three sons, where he remains actively involved in the local community, having chaired the school’s governing board and contributing to various fundraising initiatives.

SSSSA

Dr D.G. Paterson is a registered soil scientist with SACNASP and has been involved in soil classification and mapping across most of South Africa for most of his career, including land type surveys, irrigation surveys and a range of soil investigations for a wide range of purposes, including environmental impact assessments. These have included the Gautrain project, a range of Eskom transmission lines, as well as surveys for mining, housing, roads, pipelines and forestry. He was also involved with a range of research projects, including the Borassus project, Soils4Africa and various coalmine soils projects for Coaltech.

He is the past President of the Soil Science Society of South Africa (SSSSA), as well as the previous Convenor of the South African Soil Classification Working Group. He is the author of several research articles, and was the recipient of the SSSSA award for the best soil science article in the SA Journal of Plant and Soil for 2011.

Areas of expertise:

• Soil classification and mapping;
• Soil interpretation and crop suitability
• Soil conservation and rehabilitation

SASHS

Hugh Campbell – Agriculturalist and Strategist is currently director of HEC Services (Pty) Ltd and previously general manager of Hortgro Technical involvement in the fruit and agricultural sector spans a period of 46 years. His background in practical farming – both in deciduous and citrus fruit locally and overseas provided an excellent platform for the next chapter which involved the development and management of the technical and research portfolio of the deciduous fruit industry in South Africa.  He endeavours to share some thoughts around the challenges that confront industries as they seek to compete on the world market and how the research environment needs to adjust to support these industries.