He has spent the last 38 years, living and working in tropical developing countries, beginning in Cuba, and including extensive experience in Mexico, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Colombia and most recently in Vietnam.
He is known in Britain as the inventor of the intensive barley - beef production system in the 60s. However, during his time in Cuba, at the height of the American blockade, he realized that intensive beef production based on cereals was not feasible economically while from the ecological viewpoint, the tropics offered much greater production potential in indigenous crops such as sugar cane. He has since devoted his time to developing feeding systems using locally available resources not competitive with human needs.
The ecological farm is the latest manifestation of his continued work in developing sustainable agricultural systems