CST-SA Executive Committee members are affiliated with several international organisations: Cereals & Grains Association, the Wheat Initiative and editorial boards for international journals.
Maryke Labuschagne is a member of Cereals & Grains Association, a global, non-profit association working to advance the understanding and knowledge of cereal grain science and its product development applications. It creates opportunities to provide and exchange knowledge and advance innovations across the broad disciplines of cereal grain science by facilitating research, education, collaboration and technical service.
Maryke Labuschagne serves on the editorial boards for two international scientific journals: Journal of Cereal Science and Cereal Chemistry.
The Wheat Initiative was established in 2011 following endorsement by the G20 Agriculture Ministries to improve food security.
Several Expert Working Groups were established within the Wheat Initiative. Prof Maryke Labuschagne and Dr Barend Wentzel are members of The Expert Working Group on Improving Wheat Quality for Processing and Health. The Wheat Initiative creates a platform for the exchange of knowledge and innovations across a broad spectrum of disciplines in cereal grain science. This is achieved by facilitating research, education, collaboration and technical services. The research done by Prof Maryke Labuschagne and Dr Barend Wentzel links up with the vision of the Wheat Initiative
Prof. Maryke Labuschagne (University of the Free State, Bloemfontein) heads up the NRF South African Research Chair’s Initiative on “Disease resistance and quality of field crops”. A part of the research focuses on wheat quality, and specifically on gluten protein and its interaction with the environment. It is mainly abiotic stress conditions such as drought and heat that slot into the aims of the Wheat Initiative.
Dr Barend Wentzel is a researcher at Agricultural Research Council – Small Grain in Bethlehem and specialises in Cereal Chemistry. Research is conducted on wheat protein composition and functionality in collaboration with the Department of Plant Breeding (University of the Free State), International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT, Mexico) and the University of Córdoba (Spain).