David Colman is Professor of Agricultural Economics at the University of Manchester. He is President-Elect of the International Association of Agricultural Economists and a past President of the Agricultural Economics Society in the UK. He has acted as expert advisor to the House of Commons Agriculture Committee on two occasions in relation to the dairy sector policy, and has been an expert witness and advisor in a number of court cases relating to the milk industry. David Colman has undertaken research projects and consulting contracts for various international bodies, including OECD, FAO, WHO, the World Bank, ODA, and the Canadian, Malawian, and Saudi Arabian Governments. He is co-author of textbooks on the Principles of Agricultural Economics, and Economics of Change in Less-Developed Countries. His main areas of research are agricultural supply response, dairy sector policy, price formation, and commodity modelling. Colman, was the Vice-President of IAAE in charge of the programme for the 25th IAAE Conference in Durban.

Nick Vink has been Chair of the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa since 1996. He spent 11 years at the Development Bank of Southern Africa as a senior policy analyst for rural and agricultural development issues during South Africa’s transition to democracy. His interests include land reform, agricultural policy, structural reform, and small farmer development.