Jang Heo

Dr. Jang Heo (Ph.D. in Sociology) got his bachelor and master degrees at the Seoul National University majoring in sociology. After spending several years as junior researcher at the Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI), Seoul, Korea, he studied environmental sociology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, U.S., and got the doctoral degree in December 1997. Returning back to the KREI, he has implemented researches and published many research papers on social change and welfare of rural areas of Korea and sustainable agricultural policy.

Abdul Ghafoor

Dr. Abdul Ghafoor is working as Associate Professor in the Institute of Business Management Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. Currently he is also looking after the duties of Director of the institute. He earned his Ph.D. in Agricultural Marketing. Food entrepreneurship, value chain management and decent work practices including gender related issues in agriculture are some other areas of his interest.

Nick Elger

Nick is the Program Manager for the EPA AgSTAR Program and serves as the Co-Chair of the Global Methane Initiative Biogas Subcommittee. In his role as Program Manager for AgSTAR, Nick works with the U.S. livestock industry, state and federal agencies, and biogas industry stakeholders to advance the deployment of methane recovery projects. While supporting the Global Methane Initiative, Nick helps advance the anaerobic digestion of organic feedstocks globally for methane mitigation and energy production.

Virtual Conference on Farmers’ Organizations and Sustainable Development

Farmers’ organizations such as cooperatives, associations, self-help groups, producer organizations, farmer-based organizations, farmer groups, and collective action can help to boost farmer productivity and bargaining power, farm management skills, household welfare and livelihoods, and rural development. However, the relationship between farmers’ organizations and broader sustainable development and policy design remains unclear.

SERD Policy Talk (SPOT): Strengthening the Agri-food System

In the 10th SPOT webinar, Omer Zafar, Takashi Yamano, and Noorullah from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Dil Rahut from the ADB Institute, and Jennifer Rosenzweig from Indonesia’s World Food Programme shared their views on factors that threaten the agriculture food system in Southeast Asia. They discussed cyclical factors and structural challenges shaping the global food system, including the effects of high food prices on nutrition and access to affordable diets, and the impact of climate change and other shocks on productivity and food production.

Neil Ian Lumanlan

Ian is a circular economy and biotechnology professional specializing in the valorization of waste biomass to address climate change and sustainable development goals.

He has a wide range of practical experience in microbial biotechnology in food and agriculture, aquaculture, water and wastewater, waste management, bioremediation, and pharmaceuticals. He has been an independent consultant since 2005. In 2012 he founded DMFP, a probiotics manufacturing business for the poultry and livestock industry in the Philippines.