Martin Patrick Farina

Dr Mart Farina started his career as a Land Development Officer in Rhodesia and then worked as a soil fertility researcher in the South African Department of Agriculture and the Agricultural Research Council from 1965 to 1998. Since then, he has consulted to Omnia Fertilizer, the FAO in Ethiopia, Nordic Fertilizers in Central America, and to government agencies and individual farmers in Kenya, Tanzania, the DRC, Zambia, Madagascar, Malawi, Zimbabwe and the Republic of Guinea. During the course of his career Mart has authored or co-authored 66 refereed scientific papers, 23 of which were published in international journals. In the interests of technology transfer to the agricultural industry Mart has also published over 50 semi-scientific and popular articles and addressed some 300 farmer’s days; he has also presented over 70 papers at scientific conferences and technical symposia. Mart was a Research Fellow at the University of Georgia, U.S.A., during 1978 and has participated in 10 international conferences on soil fertility, on five occasions as an invited speaker. Mart has been the recipient of numerous awards including six from the Fertilizer Society of South Africa (FERTASA), the BP Scholarship in Agriculture, the Gold Medal for Research from the South African Society of Crop Production, and the Sanachem Prize. In 1988 and 2005 was the Natal Agricultural Writer’s Association Agriculturist of the Year, in 1984 the National Maize Producer’s Maize Researcher of the Year, and in 1994 the Summer Grain Centre’s Researcher of the Year. Mart served as the standing member for Africa, on the International Steering Committee for Symposia on Plant-Soil Interactions at Low pH from 1993 until 2001. Mart has Honorary Membership of the South African Society of Crop Production and is a 40-year Emeritus Member of the Agronomy Society of America and the Soil Science Society of America. Contact details: farina@netfocus.co.za