John Crawford was awarded the prestigious Judith and David Coffey Chair in Sustainable Agriculture at the University of Sydney in 2008. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Natural Philosophy from the University and Glasgow and a PhD in Theoretical Astrophysics from the University of London.

He switched fields to theoretical biology about 20 years ago and studies the factors that regulate the structure and function of ecological communities and particularly the soil-plant-microbe system.

John has published more than 100 papers in international peer-reviewed journal articles with over 1700 citations. In the UK John chaired the main funding committee responsible for supporting research in sustainable agriculture, diet and health.

TEDxDubbo focused attention on what we call FACETS -- Food, Agriculture, Climate, Energy, Topsoil and Sustainability. These FACETS are actually potent ideas shared by everyday people with an interest in these disciplines. In many of these topics there is an awareness campaign; the aim of bringing our community together united against catastrophic failures in our food-chain, environment and health. It is worth mentioning that we are also indebted to our natural systems for our economic wealth. Failures in Food, Agriculture, Climate, Energy, Topsoil and Sustainability are not just a local issue -- they are a global concern. http://tedxdubbo.com/

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)