Dr. John Caradus is the CEO of Grasslanz Technology Ltd. He manages the delivery of technologies and products from plant- and microbial-based research to commercial companies. He was the CEO of Dexcel, and Science GM for AgResearch. He has a background in forage plant breeding. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Aparangi (RSNZ), the NZ Institute of Agricultural Science, and the Agronomy Society NZ. He is a Life Member of the NZ Grassland Association. He is the past President of the NZ Institute of Agricultural Science, the New Zealand Grassland Association, and the New Zealand Plant Breeding and Research Association. He has served on the RSNZ Council and Academy. He is chair of the NZ Grassland Trust, a trustee on the Kathleen Spragg Agricultural Research Trust, and a director of FAR. In 2020 he was awarded the Thomson Medal by RSNZ for his leadership in the commercial delivery of plant and microbial technologies to farmers from both publicly and privately funded research, and for improving pastoral sector productivity.
Dr. David Chapman received his master’s degree in Agricultural Science at Lincoln College IN 1977 and obtained his doctorate in plant physiology from the University of Reading in 1989. Previously, he has served as a Pasture Science Professor at the University of Melbourne. Starting from August 2010, he has
worked as a Feed and Farm Systems Principal Scientist at DairyNZ. His skills and expertise include Pasture Management, Farming Systems, Plant Ecophysiology, and Genotype x Environment Interaction.
