Welcome

Pastoral Systems – Resource Assessment

“The Science” – This site outlines my professional specialization and service relating to the integrated inventory, analysis and assessment of the land, forage and livestock resources comprising complex pastoral farming systems. Resource component balance and sustainability are fundamental.

The site presents details of RAPS, a sophisticated software package designed and coded by myself for the assessment of pastoral systems such as extensive grasslands, range lands and livestock farms.  RAPS provides decision support for: management planning; policy formulation; development assessment, emergency requirement determination  and environmental impact forecasting, including the effects of global climate change. The software is available for downloading.

There is a link to an on-line version of the book entitled “Grassland Resource Assessment for Pastoral Systems” written by myself for the Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO, 2000). Documents relating to land and forage resource complementarity and historical nutrient balances of pastoral systems are also presented.

Photography

“The Art” – Photography, especially environmental. For landscapes, I enjoy both the sweeping views and the immediate.

To me an interesting photograph is one that stops a passing glance and holds the attention. It may be an everyday scene but captured differently, in terms of technique, perspective or quality of light, and “being there”.

In addition to photographing my local environment (South Island of New Zealand) I am selecting and presenting images captured on slides during my years as a grassland development specialist primarily working on United Nations projects in remote and fascinating corners of the world. As an example, I have a large number of photographs taken in China during the early 1980s, when China was beginning to “open up” to the West, and also of Bhutan and Ethiopia.

Examples of my photographic work may be viewed via a link on this site.

Thank you for visiting.