David is a Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the La Trobe Business School and co-leads the ‘Food Business, Food Security and Digital Agriculture’ domain at the La Trobe Institute for Sustainable Agriculture and Food—LISAF. He is also an Honorary Senior Fellow at the UQ School of Economics. David has over 20 years of policy and research experience in Australia, Chile, the United States and New Zealand, where he has led various research projects and grants. He has authored more than 60 research papers and scientific reports, including publications in leading journals such as Nature, Food Policy and the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. In 2020 he won the Award for Best Paper published in the Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics.

For many years, David led economics research at CSIRO, exploring issues related to industry sustainability, regional economic resilience and impact evaluation of policies, industry expansions and natural disasters. While at CSIRO, he led various projects for industry, State governments, and different Federal government agencies, enhancing knowledge and approaches to decision-making, policy design and scenario analysis of energy transitions, agri-food exports and drought resilience, among others. Over the years, he won several awards for science excellence and customer engagement, including the 2023 CSIRO Collaboration Medal Award.

In 2017-18, David worked at Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, a renowned New Zealand institute frequently recognised as one of the southern hemisphere's most influential economics research groups. During his tenure at Motu, David led the agricultural economics team, focusing on evaluating policies addressing agricultural carbon emissions and identifying the barriers farmers face in adopting mitigation practices and technology. He also co-led a research project funded by the Deep South National Challenge, investigating the effectiveness and potential future liability of public insurance schemes to confront disasters induced by climate change.

Before his time down under, David collaborated with the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development and earned his PhD from the Pennsylvania State University in the US. He also gained experience by spending a summer working for the Economic Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, was awarded a Fulbright scholarship and was selected to participate in the ‘Future Leaders Forum’ of the Association for International Agriculture and Rural Development in Washington DC. During his early career in Chile, David lived and worked in a small indigenous agrarian community in the middle of the Atacama Desert and worked with rural entrepreneurs in the southern region of Arauco.

David has actively participated in research and workshops across Latin America, Africa, and South/Southeast Asia, collaborating with various international organisations such as the OECD, the Inter-American Development Bank, IWMI, and the ICIMOD. He has also contributed as a peer-reviewer for multiple organisations, grant foundations, and more than 30 scientific journals. He has participated in the Editorial Boards of three journals and was Editor-in-Chief of Resources Policy from 2017 to 2024.