Experience

From 2013

TH Herbals Joint Stock Company

Hanoi, Vietnam

Agriculture Manager

·         Managing the Agriculture Department of the Company

·         Setting-up large-scale multi-site cultivation operations in Nghệ An Province

·         Cultivating medicinal crops for herbal extraction

2012

Yousef Abdul Latif Jameel Group

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Technical Director Agriculture Division

·         Managing the Technical Department of the Agriculture Division

·         Implementing advanced agricultural operations on six organic date palm farms in Quassim and Madinah

·         Implementing remotely controlled irrigation (iMetos ica) and subsurface irrigation

·         Implementing fertigation systems with organic water soluble/liquid fertilizers and sulfur burners

·         Establishing phytosanitary programs for organic pest and disease control

·         Establishing local production of mycorrhizal/PGPR inoculum through licensing technology from a leading European producer

·         Planning extension of total cultivation area from 2,511 ha to 4,853 ha by 2015

·         Introducing GLOBALG.A.P.,  Tesco Nurture farm certification standards and EU regulation on organic production (EC No 834/2007, EC No 889/2008)

·         Integrating on-farm solar power generators and solar water pumps

2010 – 2012

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Senior Advisor

·         Establishing and promoting rural-development activities in a target area of 73,000 ha with a population of 88,000 in Kampong Chhnang province

·         Developing rice cultivation on 7,000 ha and improving vegetable production on 2,700 ha

·         Developing and facilitating a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) between the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), the Provincial Department of Agriculture (PDA) Kampong Chhnang, East-West Seeds International Ltd. and GIZ

·         Project management within the “Tonle Sap Lowlands Rural Development Project” financed (US$ 20m) by the Asian Development Bank (ADB)

2009 – 2010

Jenaan Investment L.L.C.

Cairo, Egypt

Manager Agriculture Division

·         Managing the Agriculture Division with 75 staff

·         Managing agriculture operations incl. pivot irrigation and fertilization for large-scale field crops including Alfalfa, barley and millet in Egypt’s Sahara

·         Expanding cultivation area from 1,460 ha to 5,685 ha

·         Scheduling, acquiring and applying fertilizers worth US$2.7m p.a.

·         Developing and implementing production plans and financial budgets

·         Forecasting and planning requirements for agricultural equipment, inputs including irrigation water, fertilizer, seed, fuel and labor

·         Planning of 50-ha trial farming of “aerobic” rice in Ethiopia

2007 – 2009

Herbert van der Hamm Fruit Trading Company Pvt. Ltd.

Mannheim, Germany

Director Quality Management

·         Quality assurance of imported and domestically produced fresh fruits and vegetables

·         Developing a supplier management program for conventional and organic produce

·         Monitoring and assuring legal and B2B pre- and post farmgate standards incl. GLOBALGAP, QS, BRC, and IFS

·         Maintaining customer relationship with key retailer ALDI

·         Focus on year-round supply of tablegrapes from Brazil, Argentine, Chile, India, Egypt, Spain, Italy and Greece

·         Substantially reducing pesticide residues, e.g., by 90% in tablegrapes, and thereby ensuring legal maximum residue levels (MRLs) and customer specifications

2005 – 2006

FieldFresh Foods Pvt. Ltd.

Gurgaon, India

Chief Agronomist and Head – R&D

·         Developing production plans and financial budgets for up to 2,688 ha based on the company’s business plan

·         Implementing cropping plans by issuing crop and region-specific agronomic “packages of practices” for contract farms and company-owned R&D farm in the states of Punjab and Rajasthan

·         Crops for domestic and overseas markets (Middle East and U.K.): aubergine, bittergourd, bottlegourd, broccoli, cabbage, cantaloupe, cauliflower, capsicum, carrot, chili, sweet and baby corn, okra, onion, round melon, snapbean, snowpea, spongegourd, sugarsnaps, tomato, watermelon and zucchini

·         Layout and implementation of open-field drip irrigation/fertigation (90 ha), nethouses (10 ha), and climatized greenhouses (soilless cultivation with highwire, 5 ha, 500.000 $)

·         Implementing and monitoring GLOBALGAP and Tesco “Nature’s Choice” farm certification standards with emphasis on overseas pesticide maximum residue level (MRL) legislation

2001 – 2004

Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)

Klong Luang, Thailand

Project Consultant

·         Managing and coordinating an interdisciplinary €2m international research project

·         Establishing a pilot 0.3-ha greenhouse vegetable farm in the humid tropics of Thailand

·         Introducing and managing daily operations at the research farm

·         Supervising and training 20 local staff and overseas M.Sc. and Ph.D. students

·         Developing and improving crop and pest management practices for tomatoes under protected cultivation

2000 – 2001

Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC)

Tainan, Taiwan

Associate Scientist for Crop and Soil Management

·         Managing the “Crop and Soil Management” department with 18 staff

·         Managing the Manila, Hanoi, Ho-Chi-Minh City, Vientiane and Phnom Penh peri-urban vegetable production projects

·         Developing and improving crop management practices and year-round cropping sequences with emphasis on hot, wet season technologies in the tropics and subtropics

1997 – 2000

Central Queensland University (CQU)

Rockhampton, Australia

Research Officer

·         Establishing and developing new primary industries (bamboo and Chinese waterchestnut)

·         Developing crop and soil management technologies

·         Developing postharvest handling, sterilization, packaging and storage techniques

·         Developing wastewater disposal systems with plants

·         Developing a 6-year (2001-2007) agricultural project ("Improving and maintaining productivity of bamboo for quality timber and shoots in Australia and the Philippines") in the Philippines and Australia funded (380,000 €) by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR)

·         Developing and policy formulation for farmers’ associations (Australian Commercial Bamboo Corporation Ltd, Bamboo Society of Australia, Australian Aquatic Vegetable Corporation)

·         Publishing a book chapter on “Aspects of Bamboo Agronomy” in Advances in Agronomy, the world’s leading publication in agriculture

1997

K+S Group / International Potash Institute

Kassel, Germany

Freelance Author

·         Authoring a publication on “Sulfur and Chloride in the Soil-Plant System“

1996 – 1997

Bavarian State Research Centre for Agriculture (LBP)

Freising, Germany

1991 – 1992

Programmer

·         Developing software for the State Seed Testing Unit and the State Seed Legalization Unit

·         Managing databases of approx. 12,000 seed-testing results p.a. with the SAS-System

1992 – 1995

Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC)

Tainan, Taiwan

Research Scholar

·         Developing crop and soil management technologies for sustainable vegetable and rice production systems in the tropics and subtropics in Southeast Asia

·         Studies of traditional (inter-) cropping systems in the tropics and subtropics

1990

University of Ghana (UG)

Accra, Ghana

Research Scholar

·         Screening local and imported tomato varieties for high-temperature tolerance

·         Studying agronomic characteristics of indigenous vegetables

1989

Agricultural Research Station Kade

Kade, Ghana

Research Scholar

·         Tropical tree crop propagation and cultivation

1989

Garden-Center Pflanzen-Kölle

Munich, Germany

Trainee

·         Intensive greenhouse production of ornamentals

Education

Technical University Munich (TUM)

Weihenstephan, Germany

1992 – 1997

Ph.D. (Dr. agr.)

·         Ph.D. thesis: “Technologies for Sustainable Vegetable Production in the Tropical Lowlands”

1986 – 1992

M.Sc. (Dipl.-Ing. agr. univ.)

·         M.Sc. thesis: “Intercropping with legumes in the tropics”

·         Studies of “Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences”

Paul-Klee Gymnasium (High School)

Overath, Germany

1976 – 1985

Abitur

Consultation

04 – 05/2012

Atheneum Partners and Monitor

·         “Agricultural Strategy” of “Ha Tinh Province Socio-Economic Development Master Plan for 2020 and a Vision for 2050”

Ha Tinh, Vietnam

03/2012

Gulf Craft

·         “Hydroculture Project on the Maldives”

Malé, Maldives

Telephone Consultation

Gerson Lehrman Group

New York, USA

2012

·         “Agriculture”, “Rice Pledging Scheme in Thailand”, “Rice Industry Dynamics”, “Agronomy: Soil Productivity”, “Global Rice Industry”, “Agricultural Value Chain”

2011

·         “Supplier Quality Management”

2010

·         “Trade of Citrus Fruits and Grapes Globally”, “African Agriculture”

2008

·         “Wheat Industry in Europe”, “Potash Fertilizer Purchasers”, “Crop Protection/Agriculture Market”

GuidepointGlobal

London, UK

2009

·         “Irrigation Market Outlook”

2008

·         “Price Sensitivity of Farmers to Potash Fertilizers”

PrimaryInsight

New York, USA

2008

·         “The Global Sugarcane Industry”

2007

·         “The Global Fertilizer Industry”, “The Chinese Agricultural Sector”

Project Management

2011 – 2012

·         “Tonle Sap Lowlands Rural Development Project”

2001 – 2004

·         “Protected Cultivation in the Humid Tropics”

2000 – 2001

·         “Field Operations for Economic Year-round Vegetable Production”

1998 – 2000

·         “Improved Management Practices for Culinary Bamboo Shoots”

1997 – 2000

·         “Production and Post-harvest Systems for the Chinese Waterchestnut Industry”

1997 – 1998

·         “Culinary Bamboo Shoots in Australia”

1992 – 1995

·         “Integrated Vegetable Production in Paddy Rice Fields”

Funding Generation

2001

·         “Optimized field operations for economic year-round vegetable production” (€25.000 p.a.)
Council of Agriculture, Taiwan

2000

·          “Improving and maintaining productivity of bamboo for quality timber and shoots in Australia and the Philippines” (€380.000)
Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, Australia

1992

·          “Integrated Vegetable Production in Paddy Rice Fields” (€80.000)
German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany

Publications

49 contributions to international peer-reviewed journals, magazines, book chapters, books and other publications incl.:

·         Kleinhenz, V., CHEA, S., HUN, N., 2013: Survey of Rice Cropping Systems in Kampong Chhnang Province, Cambodia. Rice Science, 20(3), in press.

·         Kleinhenz, V., Midmore, D. J., 2001: Aspects of Bamboo Agronomy. In: D. L. Sparks (Ed.): Advances in Agronomy, Vol. 74, 99-153. Academic Press, New York, USA.

·         Kleinhenz, V., Elsmore, S., Harrower, K., Lyall, T., Gosbee, M., Blackburn, K., Midmore, D. J., 2000: Storage methods for extending shelf life of fresh, edible bamboo shoots [Bambusa oldhamii (Munro)]. Postharvest Biology and Technology, 19, 253-264.

·         Kleinhenz, V., Schnitzler, W. H., Midmore, D. J., 1997: Effects of legume live mulch on crop performance, soil available nitrogen, and crop-N status in intensive tropical vegetable production. Biological Agriculture and Horticulture, 14, 261-278.

·         Kleinhenz, V., Katroschan, K., Schütt, F., Stützel, H., 2006: Biomass accumulation and partitioning of tomato under protected cultivation in the humid tropics. European Journal of Horticultural Science, 71, 173-182.

·         Kleinhenz, V., Milne, J., Walsh, K. B., Midmore, D.J., 2003: A case study on the effects of irrigation and fertilization on soil water and soil nutrient status, and on growth and yield of bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens) shoots. Journal of Bamboo and Rattan, 2, 281-294.

·         Li, M., Kleinhenz, V., Lyall, T., Midmore, D. J., 2000: Response of Chinese waterchestnut (Eleocharis dulcis (Burm. F.) Hensch) to photoperiod. Journal of Horticultural Sciences & Biotechnology, 75, 72-78.

Referee for International Journals

·         African Journal of Agricultural Research

·         Agricultural and Forest Meteorology

·         Biological Agriculture and Horticulture

·         International Journal of Horticultural Science

·         International Agricultural Engineering Journal

·         Journal of Agricultural Biotechnology and Sustainable Development

·         Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Tropics and Subtropics

·         Journal of Soil and Water Conversation

·         Scientia Horticulturae

Language and IT-Skills

·         English, German: fluently written and spoken

·         French, Spanish: school knowledge

·         Data analysis/statistics, databases (SAS-System, SigmaPlot, DataFit, MySQL)

·         Programming (SAS-System)

·         Office applications (MS Office, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Photoshop)