Jon has been with INR for fifteen years. He holds a National Diploma in Agriculture, a B.Sc (Soil Science and Hydrology) and has completed a Master of Environment and Development degree, which examined the role of social learning and systems thinking in the advancement of organic farming systems. His interests lie at the interface between agriculture, the environment and livelihoods.

Jon’s expertise and focus centres on agricultural systems and rural livelihoods. At a broader strategic level, he has led the development of national strategies for organic value chain development, essential oils, agroforestry, and is currently leading the development of a national rainwater harvesting strategy. He has also led a number of provincial and municipal agricultural development strategies. From a research perspective, Jon is also active in applied research relating to farming systems. His research interests include resilience to water risk in commercial fruit production, climate smart agriculture, rainwater harvesting and agroforestry systems, considering in particular the efficiency of water use of different production systems.

He has experience in field based soil-water measurements and field based participatory research in rural communities. Specific skills include:

• Project management, implementation and logistics.
• Strategic planning and policy development in agriculture.
• Applied and participatory research on agricultural development and support.
• Agro-ecology, sustainable agriculture, Climate smart agricultural techniques, rainwater harvesting.
• Business planning, enterprise and SME development.
• Soil, soil-water relationships and hydrology.
• Agronomy, Agricultural Extension and Support.