Patrick Heffer

Senior Director, Agriculture Service

International Fertilizer Association

Patrick Heffer joined the International Fertilizer Association (IFA) in Paris in 2002, where he is Senior Director of the Agriculture Service. In this capacity, he coordinates IFA’s global activities relating to fertilizer consumption. In addition, at the regional level, Patrick leads IFA’s Africa programme. More specifically, his duties focus on agronomic, market and policy issues that relate to fertilizer and nutrient management in a global context.

Before joining IFA, Patrick spent 15 years with the seed industry, including five years in Switzerland at the joint secretariat of the International Seed Trade Federation and International Association of Plant Breeders (FIS/ASSINSEL), advancing to the position of Deputy Secretary General before his departure, and two years in Rome with the Seed and Plant Genetic Resources Service at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). He has also worked at GNIS (French parastatal seed organization) in Poitiers, France and at the Hassan II Agronomic and Veterinary Institute in Rabat, Morocco.

Patrick earned his Master Degree in genetics and plant breeding at Paris XI - Orsay University, and earlier graduated in agronomy from the French École nationale supérieure d’horticulture.

Patrick is currently on the Board of Trustees of the African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP) and on the Steering Committee of the Global Partnership on Nutrient Management (GPNM).