John C. Greenfield was a New Zealand agronomist who introduced vetiver grass to Fiji. In the 1980s he worked for the World Bank in India, where he and Dick Grimshaw started the Vetiver System initiative; vetiver was pilot-tested on World Bank-funded watershed projects from 1986. His handbook Vetiver Grass: The Hedge against Erosion carried the technology around the world. He died at his home in New Zealand on 25 February 2017.

He often reminded colleagues that as agriculturists we have only 30 to 40 seasons to make a significant change in our working lives. He was a practical, hands-on agronomist whose work was always grounded in science, and he was always looking to help the world’s small rainfed farmers.