I would like to paint a picture of Mike’s career, which speaks clearly as to who he was. He was an ag economist and began his international career in Tanzania in the 60’s and 70’s, came back here for a brief stint, then to Kenya in the late 70’s and 80’s, then to Washington DC before retiring here in Goring.
The family has received emails from a number of colleagues, so I will include tributes from a few. Common themes describing Mike’s career are “pioneer, modest, mentor, influential,  and last but not least, lovely sense of humour”.

First, a message from three of Mike’s close colleagues when he worked in Kenya for 11 years:   "Mike was a pioneer in changing the way agricultural research is carried out in Africa. His approach was simple but still revolutionary at the time—start out by talking to farmers to understand their goals and constraints. Mike looked at African agriculture with clear and unbiased eyes while teaching his colleagues how to share this understanding.   We remember him as modest, good-humoured, but always persistent in his convictions."

Second, Steve, an American, worked with Mike in Nairobi: "Mike’s great contribution to agricultural development was farming systems research ─ giving ag researchers the means to understand farmers’ objectives and circumstances and incorporate these into their research to improve farm productivity. Training African researchers in these concepts was also a key priority for Mike and his training workshops were much appreciated and in high demand. I also remember lots of laughs and jokes with Mike, many of them involved making fun of Americans. One day, Mike said something about the British Marines and I said, “Oh, I did not know the British had marines too.” To which Mike responded “Well, we do not make so much noise about them”. Later on I visited Mike in Washington DC and he said, with that snarky smile, ""You know, surprising as it might seem to you, I rather like living in the US and I even like Americans!"

Guido, from Belgium, worked with Mike from early 80’s until retirement: "Mike was always very constructive, helpful and pleasant to work with. I loved his sense of humour. One anecdote that I always remember, was when we were discussing that our long professional travels were not easy to combine with family life. He then imitated his homecoming after a long travel. He called your mum to say he was home, and your mum replied from the stables ‘wait a moment Mike, I’m feeding the horses’, he imitated your mothers voice. It was so funny the way he said it!"

In my own career I somewhat followed in his footsteps, although we always joked that I was a proper scientist, having studied crop sciences, and he was just a “soft” scientist, on the social sciences side. As a child, driving around the countryside in Kenya, he used to talk about how complicated it is for farmers trying to feed their families, with a diversity of crops grown on usually an acre or less, and a few goats and cows. Constant weeding, planting, harvesting, much of it done by women. He was considered a gender specialist, recognizing the importance of talking with and including women in discussions. This was, and still is, a tricky task in Africa.

I now travel to many of the same locations in East and Southern Africa that he helped set up. In my early days of travel I would meet those trained by him, now leading those research stations, and they shared how much he had guided them during their early days. My current project is a large collaboration including the center that Mike worked with for ~10 years – the fact that they still share his publications and discuss his approach today is testament to his pioneering ways.
I feel very lucky to have shared this passion with Dad.