A dr. agrar. graduate of the University of Hohenheim, Eckart is in private practice as a consultant.

 

MICHAEL CHERRY

Michael Cherry has devoted much of his career to date to the management of major corporate farming production entities both in the developing and developed sectors, first as General Manager of Magwa Tea Corporation near Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape Province, and subsequently as Managing Director of Sapekoe Estates, an Industrial Development Corporation company producing tea, coffee, macadamias and paprika on several large estates in the Limpopo Province and in Kwa-Zulu Natal.

He has significant experience as a practical farmer, first having controlled a crop farming partnership in Natal, and subsequently owning and running, full time, his fruit farm near Knysna.

Before and in between these managerial activities Michael had several years experience as an agricultural management consultant both with Lugg Harrison and Associates, where he spearheaded the creation of Magwa Tea Corporation and the privatisation of its management structure, and as an independent private individual.

He has held innumerable directorships, in several of which capacities including the SA Tea Council and Transkei United Dairies he was the Chairperson.  Cherry holds a BSc Agric degree from the University of Stellenbosch and an MBA from the University of Cape Town. He is currently in private practice as a consultant and Managing Agent.

 

INGRID DU TOIT

Ingrid du Toit started her career in the Directorate Marketing at the National Department of Agriculture where her responsibilities included the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and later the World Trade Organisation, particularly the RSA commitments leading up to and following the signing of the Uruguay Round Agreement.

Following this, she became involved in the field of domestic agricultural marketing, including serving on the Secretariats of the Agricultural Marketing Policy Evaluation Committee and the Working Group appointed to draft the new Marketing of Agricultural Products Act.  She was involved throughout the process of deregulating the marketing and control of agricultural products in her capacity as the Operations Manager at the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC).

She subsequently gained experience in the field of agricultural finance at the Land Bank, specifically in the area of product development.  She has gained project management experience both at Land Bank and the Southern African Regional Poverty Network (SARPN) where she was also exposed to the greater SADC region and poverty issues relating to particularly land and HIV/Aids and food security in the region.

Ingrid holds a BEcon (Hons) degree from the University of the Free State and is currently contracting in the agricultural and project management fields.

 

MICHAEL McCULLOUGH

Michael McCullough spent most of his 22 years in banking and investment management as director of distribution and marketing systems for packaged investment products.  Since relocating to an olive farm in the Western Cape he has, in collaboration with Dr. Norvell Northcutt of the University of Texas, developed several applications of an existing social systems based qualitative research methodology, Interactive Qualitative Analysis©. These applications have proved useful in evaluating and forecasting the effects of social and economic change in a variety of fields including higher education administration, health care, distance learning, military training, and agri-business.

Michael trained in research design and qualitative analysis at the University of Northern Colorado (MA) and the University of Texas at Austin.  He is currently a Program Research Associate with the Community College Leadership Programme at the University of Texas. His area of specialization is qualitative change management research.  Relevant applications include estimation and evaluation of social and economic effects of transformational change on rural social systems and agri-business organizations.

 

JOHN ALLWOOD

John has more than 30 years practical and conceptual experience in agriculture and rural development, both in Southern Africa and Internationally.

A graduate in agriculture from the University of Natal, he spent 6 years as a manager of a pineapple production unit linked to a cannery in Swaziland.  This provided experience in commercial agricultural estate management and vertically integrated agri business, in a value chain linked from primary production to promotion and exporting of finished canned pineapple, grapefruit and asparagus products.

Three years in the newly formed agricultural division of the Bantu Investment Corporation, the precursor of the Development Bank of South Africa, provided experience in establishing 6500 ha major commercially viable irrigation schemes in private public community partnerships in the previous homelands and Namibia. Public private partnerships were formed to enable peasant farmers to enter and succeed in the competitive mainstream agricultural sector.

He successfully built up his own dairy and vegetable farming enterprise on 70 ha irrigated cropping at Ixopo in Kwa Zulu Natal.

The major portion of his career, 19 years, was spent in various leadership capacities with World Vision International in South Africa and in 12 other African countries. This provided international promotional experience in North America, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and Western Europe.

In 1996 he returned to South Africa and was appointed Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Eastern Cape Department of Agriculture. He has served in senior management with the Department for over 11 years, providing leadership for the advisory and technical divisions, Economic Development, Veterinary and Engineering Services.

He introduced new thinking and programmes into the Department, including commercially linked food security programmes, farmer support programmes and played a formative role in initiating the AsgiSA EC major rural development programme initiatives in the Mzimvubu Development Zone. Policy development for the Agricultural Sector during the last 10 years, in cooperation with organised agriculture and Agri Business has been a major responsibility in his portfolio.

He travelled with the MEC for Agriculture and the Premier of the Province on numerous international visits to promote agriculture opportunities in the Eastern Cape.

Retired from the civil service, he is now actively involved in a number of agricultural related rural development initiatives.