Expert panel

Dr Charlotte Nkuna has wide experience in the poultry industry – gained in a career spanning over two decades – and has held several influential positions since she graduated as a veterinary surgeon. Before moving to her current position as General Manager of Veterinary Wildlife Services at SANparks, she worked with various animal health organisations in South Africa and the United Kingdom; held positions at commercial poultry farms and at the South African Poultry Association, eventually becoming SAPA’s interim CEO and Senior Executive Eggs.

Dr Nkuna has both a Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery, and a Master in Business Administration. She holds several positions within the South African Veterinary Council, including that of President of the South African Veterinary Association, Vice Chairperson of the National Animal Health Forum and others. She has been twice nominated as one of South Africa’s Most Influential women in Business and Government by CEO Magazine.

Tracy Davids holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics at the University of Pretoria and her research focus includes commodity market modelling, market projections, policy analysis, price formation, spatial price relationships, competitiveness, and trade flows. She has been a researcher at the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) since 2012 and presently manages the commodity-market-analysis programme.

Dr Davids contributes to and coordinates the annual Outlook publications of BFAP and the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes (ReNAPRI). She has collaborated with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). She has presented at various international conferences and has published numerous papers in peer reviewed journals which have won several awards.

Dr Christo Joubert is the manager of Agro-food chains at the Market and Economic Division of the National Agricultural Marketing council (NAMC), where he has been involved for over a decade. He holds several degrees in agriculture, as well as an MBA, and a PhD in Agricultural Economy that focused on an analysis of the South African broiler industry.

At the NAMC Dr Joubert manages research projects regarding the agro food chain and oversees the publication of several annual, quarterly and monthly reports including the Food Cost Review, the Food Price Monitor, the Input cost Monitor and the Food Basket price.

Kevin Lovell is a consultant scientific advisor to the International Egg Commission (IEC) and an advisor to the International Egg Foundation (IEF). He has served on a number of ad hoc groups for the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), has been part of a disaster planning team for the UN and is also a trade advisor and negotiator.

He has held the position of CEO of the South African Poultry Association (SAPA) for 11 years. Prior to joining SAPA he served in various executive positions for the Royal Bafokeng Nation. He has also been the managing director of the Southern African subsidiary of a multinational dairy equipment company and has also worked as a sales and technical manager for various other agricultural companies. He has over 35 years of agribusiness experience throughout the eastern seaboard of Africa, from Ethiopia to South Africa.

Kevin has a BSc in agriculture from the University of Natal and a B.Inst. Agrar. (Hons) from the University of Pretoria.

Professor Meyer holds the position as director of the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) and associate professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development at the University of Pretoria.

Prof Meyer holds a PhD from the University of Missouri in the United States, which he completed in 2006. In 2004 he was a founding member of the BFAP.

He is a recipient of the Exceptional Young achievers award from the University of Pretoria; a rated researcher at the National Research Foundation; and was named Agriculturalist of the Year 2014 Northern Region by Agricultural Writers SA, while BFAP was awarded the Grain SA Inspiration Award 2014.

Prof Meyer remains involved in primary agriculture and lives on the farm with his family.

Professor Johan Willemse is an award-winning economist and writer, and head of Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of the Free State. Aside from his successful academic career, he is also a family entrepreneur who has successfully developed several businesses with his wife, Marlene, and their daughters.

He hold a PhD in Agricultural Economy from the University of Pretoria, and was awarded a Cochrane scholarship in 2003 from Illinois University in the USA. He consults to a number of agribusinesses in South Africa on agricultural market trends and also holds a quarterly outlook workshop on agricultural markets. He has received numerous awards and accolades, including being named agricultural writer of the year and Absa Business Economist of the Year.

He has served as the head economist of the SA Agricultural Union, member of the Maize Board and non-executive director of Absa, among other positions; and currently serves as nonexecutive director on several boards.