David W. Norman is Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Economics at Kansas State University, USA and an Adjunct Professor at Gansu Agricultural University, China.
He is British and spent twenty years working in national agricultural research systems in Africa: 1965-76 in Nigeria as head of the Ford Foundation sponsored Rural Economy Research Unit and the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology at IAR, Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria; and 1982-90 as Chief of Party of the USAID sponsored Agricultural Technology Improvement Project under the Ministry of Agriculture, Botswana. With others he helped develop and popularise the farming (agricultural) systems research approach. He has undertaken short-term assignments (often as team leader) in about 80 countries in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the South Pacific for many different agencies including UNDP, FAO, CGIAR system, DFID, DGIS, USAID, Rockefeller and Ford Foundations, etc.
He is a Distinguished Fellow of the African Association of Agricultural Economists and received a special award from the International Farming Systems Association (IFSA) for “outstanding scientific contributions, dedication and commitment to farmers and communities worldwideâ€. At Kansas State University he was awarded the Commerce Bank Distinguished Graduate Faculty Award and the first International Education Award. He has authored/co-authored over 200 publications (books, manuals, journal articles and papers), 100 professional and invited presentations and about 60 consultancy reports.