Research interests encompass two converging themes: agricultural and rural development with special reference to emerging economies and Africa; and, the management of food safety and quality for agricultural production in response to legislation, the food chain and consumers. Research and contract research for governments, industry actors and NGO’s has included: the evaluation of environmental conditions in UK farm assurance schemes; global studies of a range of farm, food industry and retailer private standards in relation to HACCP, risk assessment and systems management, Restructuring the pig sector in Barbados; environmental assessments of modern farm developments in Malaysia; studies into red meat export from Uruguay and quality red meat in Europe. He has also been responsible for the development of voluntary social and environmental standards for a leading international standards owner, the SQF Institute and has advised a number of governments on private standards adoption, especially at the farm level. Current research is focussing on the relationships between small holder farmers, agribusiness and governments in developing various models of public: private partnerships. In addition, he has been actively involved in agricultural and environmental curriculum development from primary farm schools to higher education and professional development programmes in the UK and overseas. Richard has also successfully supervised a number of PhD research projects linked to food and farming safety and quality risk assessments; Farmer: supply chain relationships; GHG mitigations and farm carbon sequestration.