Staff profile

Henry  Matthews

Henry Matthews


Role

Lecturing in FE, HE and Post Graduate in agriculture and farm business management

Course Manager Undergraduate and Post Graduate Agriculture

Consultant


Biography

I have been involved in international consultancy and project work since 1999 initially in sustainable crop production but later in value chain development. I have conducted farmer workshops on all aspects of crop production and marketing in Romania, Russia, Tajikistan and Ukraine. I have provided on farm advice on crop husbandry and post harvest practices in Russia, Dominican Republic, Peru and Spain and this has included crops as varied as Bananas, citrus, ginger as well as cereals and field vegetables. Value Chain work has been centred on improving the opportunities for agricultural and rural communities in adding value and marketing their produce more effectively. This has, again been predominantly in former Soviet Countries such as Tajikistan and Uzbekistan but also in Kenya and Sri Lanka. I have also provided input into projects with other agrarian universities developing courses to reflect the changing farm business environment in transition countries. I am currently involved in such a project with 9 other universities across Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. Individual assignments have been undertaken to evaluate farm businesses in Argentina, Tanzania and Ukraine. While the focus in all work is to improve farm business profitability the potential externalities and hidden costs to the communities and societies in which this work has been carried out always identified and feature in solutions and advice given.


Qualifications

MSc in Agribusiness for Development (Imperial College, London)
Post graduate Diploma in Agriculture and Farm Management (Writtle College)
BA Honours History and Economics (Manchester University)


Subject Areas

Farm Management
Agronomy
Value Chains
Rural Business Development


Research

Agriculture and agricultural value chains in transition countries

Economics of large scale agriculture