John Greenfield: An unsung champion
John Greenfield will be remembered as an unsung champion who made a difference around the world for soil and water conservation.
The Kerikeri resident died on February 25 aged 85.
Good friend Rick Fisher says Greenfield was an unassuming New Zealander whose achievements were significant and will continue to impact globally into the future.
Known as ‘The Father of Vetiver’, Greenfield revived the use of a unique plant, Vetiver grass, to control erosion in developing countries.
He was born into a farming family and grew into a well grounded agronomist with a special interest in conserving soil and rainfall for rain-fed farmers in the tropics.
One of his first jobs was to work for the Fiji Sugar Corporation during the 1950’s, where farmers were expanding production on steep and fragile soils exposed to high, and often extreme, rainfall events.
He was tasked to find a better way to control erosion.
He began using Vetiver grass, that when grown as a hedgerow across the slope assured that soil and related nutrients remained on the field and rainfall runoff decreased.
Soon all cane growers in Fiji had to conserve their land using the grass hedgerows if they wanted to sell their cane.
Fast forward 30 years and John was posted to India by the World Bank where soil and water conservation projects were facing problems.
He introduced the same technology to Indian farmers.
Greenfield authored a farmer’s handbook
– that he insisted must fit into the farmer’s shirt pocket.
The book that has been used all over the tropical world and translated into many languages.
When he retired he helped establish The Vetiver Network International as an information network to promote the Vetiver System.
These applications include farm soil and water conservation, bio engineering for slope stabilisation and land rehabilitation.
It has taken 30 years since John started this initiative in India, and today all tropical and semi-arid countries are using the system.
In 2006 Greenfield was awarded the Norman Hudson Memorial Award by the World Association of Soil and Water Conservation in recognition of his work.
He is survived by his two children and long term partner Sandra Peters.