John MacRobert has a PhD in Agronomy and over the last 40 years has gained much experience in public and private agriculture, particularly in the seed sector. Early in his career John worked for the Agriculture Research Trust, a farmer-funded research and extension organization in Zimbabwe, where he was the Research Manager, and carried out much practical farmer-oriented agronomic research, culminating in his PhD on optimizing wheat irrigation. In 1995 he went to work on an orphan project in a rural area in Zimbabwe supporting orphan families in farming and educational activities. From 1999 to mid-2005, he worked for Seed Co Ltd as Research and Production Manager, after which he worked at CIMMYT, Harare, as Seed Systems Specialist, until early 2014. After CIMMYT, John started Mukushi Seeds, an insurgent seed company, that has grown and established itself as a reliable supplier of quality seed of field crops in Zimbabwe and southern Africa. Before joining SSG, John handed over the management of the company to a local team. Born in Zimbabwe, John has lived and worked all his career in Africa but has also travelled widely serving as a consultant and facilitator of capacity building courses, particularly in seed and farm business management, seed production and crop agronomy in various countries in Africa and Asia.