CONGRESS 55
Introducing new council members
Robyn E Nicolay: Additional Member
Growing up partly in a stable yard
in Zulu land and partly in Durban,
my background in agriculture was
limited to riding horses through the sugarcane
fields on the north coast and visits
to cousins’ farms over school holidays.
No surprise when studying agriculture
became the next step following matric.
I established my foundations in agriculture
as a student at Cedara College,
admittedly spending more time riding
horses than in the classroom.
I followed on from Cedara with a degree
in Agricultural management, from Nelson
Mandela Metropolitan University, at
the same time working on a small dairy.
Whilst writing a (relatively uninteresting)
research-based Masters, I had the
opportunity to study abroad through a
SANORD student exchange program to
Hedmark University of Applied Sciences
in Norway. Here, I was introduced to
ecology and sustainable agricultural systems,
developing my love for academics,
and ultimately deciding to redirect
my field of study. A necessary withdrawal
from my master’s program led me to
apply for a course-based MSc in Agro-
Ecology, majoring in soil ecology, at UK
Agricultural and land-based institution,
Harper Adams University. A bold and
scary move. I was fortunate enough to
be awarded a partial scholarship by the
Elizabeth Creek Foundation and Harper
Development trust. My two-year stint
in the UK also had me working at the
Harper University Dairy. These experiences
were invaluable, both the practical
knowledge working at a state-of-the-art
research dairy, as well as the irreplaceable
academic skills attained from studying
at Harper.
Returning to South Africa, I am currently
a full-time PhD student at the University
of KwaZulu Natal - Grassland Sciences,
researching Soil Carbon dynamics in
grasslands managed under varying agricultural
and environmental scenarios. My
interests still lie in Agro-Ecological practices,
Soil ecology and Sustainable Agriculture,
with the end goal to continue
indefinitely within the field of academics
and research. Outside of this realm, I am
very much besotted with Jerseys cows,
being quite involved with the KZN Jersey
club, an often-welcomed distraction. I
also have an odd obsession with the theatre,
musicals, and music, having previously
played contrabass in local orchestras.
The love for horses has remained
Council 2020/2021
President: Kevin Kirkman
Vice President: Igshaan Samuels
Immediate Past President: Debbie Jewitt
Honorary Treasurer: Linda Kleyn
Honorary Secretary: Heleen Els
Figure 1: Robyn Nicolay
and I enjoy a long farm hack whenever
time allows. Married to an academic (and
my computer) with an active toddler and
a house full of dogs, it is often difficult to
hold conversations about anything else.
I am looking forward to contributing as
part of the GSSA committee this year.
Francuois Müller: Additional Member
My name is Francuois Lloyd Müller.
From a very young age, I had
a keen interest in environmental
and biological sciences. This was probably
stimulated by my upbringing in the
agricultural environment in the Western
Cape Province where my family was, and
still is, actively involved with farming.
I started my scientific career at the University
of the Western Cape (UWC) and
completed my M.Sc. degree in plant
eco-physiology, specifically looking at
plant mineral nutrition at the Department
of Biodiversity and Conservation
Biology. During this time I volunteered
to work with the Agricultural Research
Council (ARC) Range and Forage Sciences
team based at UWC. I was invited
to join the team to collaborate on a
project in the Leliefontein communal
rangelands of Namaqualand. The project
focused on recording livestock feeding
preference and diet selection. As a
plant eco-physiologist, it was my responsibility
to determine the mineral nutrient
content of the selected plant samples. In
2014 I started on the ARC PDP program
where my initial work focused on evaluating
Medicago and Trifolium species in
the Caledon and Malmesbury areas of
the Western Cape. However, whenever
I had the time, I was still collaborating
and working with the ARC unit at UWC
Scientific Editor: Pieter Swanepoel
Publications Editor: Malissa Murphy
Website Editor: Charné Viljoen
Public Relations Officer: Ntuthuko Mkhize
Additional member (Grassroots): Charné
Viljoen
on communal rangelands in Namaqualand.
It was during one of these trips to
the Leliefontein communal rangelands
that the idea to identify, develop and use
indigenous legume species as alternative,
drought-tolerant forages within the
Namaqualand rangelands arose. This
idea was later developed further and became
part of my PhD studies which resulted
in me permanently moving back
to the ARC Range and Forage Sciences
group at UWC in 2015. During this time,
apart from my PhD work, I collaborated
on numerous projects, co-supervising
various student research projects in
rangeland science and plant eco-physiology.
In 2017, I was appointed as a Junior
Researcher in plant eco-physiology at
the ARC and relocated to the Gauteng
province where I am now managing the
South African National Forage Genebank
(SA-NFG) based in Roodeplaat. The
SA-NFG team falls under the Range and
Forage Sciences division where our research
focusses on identifying and evaluating
alternative indigenous grass and
legume species for utilization as fodders
in water-limited agro-ecosystems. At the
Figure 2: Francuois Müller
SA-NFG, my team and I, in collaboration
with various seed distributors are constantly
conducting seed viability tests,
cultivar evaluation trials, and evaluating
current commercial forages for their ability
to cope with abiotic stress conditions
such as drought. We also characterize
and compare the accessions maintained
at the SA-NFG to what is currently commercially
available in South Africa to
identify potential beneficial traits in the
older plant genetic resources that sometimes
are no longer present in the commercial
cultivars.
Additional member: Robyn Nicolay
Additional member: Francuois Müller
Additional member: Marnus Smit
Additional member: Florence
Nherera-Chokuda
Chairperson of trust: Nicky Allsopp
Grassroots Vol 20 No 3 September 2020
12