PROFESSOR of Agricultural Economics and Food Policy Wendy Umberger has joined the Grain Producers SA board of directors.
Prof Umberger, from the University of Adelaide, was appointed as an independent director, taking the board to its full complement of nine members.
She is also the executive director of the university’s Centre for Global Food and Resources, which focuses on economic issues affecting global food and agricultural value chains, and is the immediate past president of the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, a non-profit society promoting research relevant to Australasia in agricultural, environmental, food, and resource economics and agribusiness.
In addition, she is a director of the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics – a $55-million international research for development organisation operating in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Prior to joining the University of Adelaide in 2006, she was an Associate Professor at Colorado State University and was raised on a beef cattle and cropping property in South Dakota in the United States, where her family still farms.
GPSA chair Wade Dabinett said Prof Umberger would bring a range of skills in board governance, knowledge of global agricultural markets and trade policy, and agricultural extension to the organisation.
“Prof Umberger’s expertise spans the areas of academia, agribusiness, policy and research, development and extension, which will all contribute significantly to GPSA,” he said.
Prof Umberger said she was looking forward to using her career experience to contribute new insights to important issues facing GPSA.
“My focus will be on providing evidence-based policy guidance, addressing the research, development and extension (RD&E) needs of the sector, and helping to build awareness of the important contributions of the grains industry to the South Australian economy,” Prof Umberger said.
Prof Umberger joins fellow independent director Andrew Goode and the Board’s seven non-executive, grower-elected directors.