Commercial Team Leader Agricultural & Environment
First New Zealander to Chair the Continuing Committee of the International Grasslands Congress (IGC).
AgResearch's Dr Gavin Sheath became the first New Zealander to Chair the Continuing Committee of the International Grasslands Congress (IGC) in 2005. Gavin has the responsibility of overseeing its next conference in Inner Mongolia.
Gavin was elected to this new position at the International Grasslands Congress in Dublin earlier this year. He has represented Australasia/Oceania on the Committee since 2001, but says he was surprised and honoured to be elected Chairman.
"The International Grasslands Congress is an important group which covers the full range of the world's grassland agriculture. We look at everything from increasing to intensifying production in developed nations. Sustainability and environmental impacts of farming are always a big focus.
"This year's conference in Dublin attracted 1200 people from 92 different countries. Our challenge now is to attain that level of success for the next conference to be held in Hohot, Inner Mongolia in 2008.
"The Hohot conference is being jointly hosted by IGC and the International Rangelands Congress (IRC), so I'll be working with the IRC Chairman to ensure we attract a range of interesting and internationally relevant papers. We are also responsible for finding international funding and sponsorship to ensure the attendance of young scientists from developing nations who would not otherwise be able to afford to attend.
"Ecologically, Inner Mongolia is a fascinating location. It is a very old indigenous grassland system, but it is very fragile and prone to wind erosion. It's an area which is seeing more and more dairy farming too. The Chinese government is very concerned about its conservation which is one of the reasons we have been invited to hold our conference there."