Derek Baker

Professor Derek Baker is a prominent academic in Agribusiness and Value Chains at the University of New England's UNE Business School. He holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from Pennsylvania State University (1991), a B Agr Sc (Hons I) from Massey University (1984), and a GCERT in Research Management from the University of Melbourne (2016). His research focuses on food industry performance analysis, supply chain innovation, and international development projects across over 40 countries.

Key roles include coordinating minor dissertations, serving on the UNE SMART Region Incubator Management Committee, and co-training teams for the IFAMA Student Case Study Competition. His awards include the UNE Faculty Teaching Award (2019) for an innovative agribusiness program. Research interests span climate change impacts on agribusiness, digital transformation in food systems, and policies for sustainable livestock systems.

Teaching spans undergraduate courses like ECON101 and BUS301, and postgraduate modules such as BUS501 and OSSE500. His HDR supervision addresses topics like value chain network analysis, livestock data systems, and social enterprise performance in rural areas. He actively contributes to global initiatives like the Future Food Systems CRC and ACIAR projects in Ethiopia.