MEET THE SPEAKERS
Alessandro Gualandi
G-Berries
Alessandro is an agronomist who has worked in the berry industry for the past eight years. His current work as variety development manager for G-Berries is to find a match between the best varieties the group creates and the growers with whom it works.
Alfonso Lopez de la Calzada
Planasa
Alfonso López, an agronomic engineer with a master’s in food engineering, brings extensive international expertise to the table. From UC Davis in California, USA, to his current role as new product launch manager at Planasa, he has over a decade of experience driving innovation in berries, blending technical knowledge with international market strategies.
Ambrish Karvat
Yupaa Group of Companies
A veteran of the international fresh produce business, Ambrish Karvat has pioneered the establishment of strawberry, raspberry and blueberry production in India. Since 1989, he has actively developed the country’s berry sector, and established a tissue culture lab at his R&D centre to produce high-quality plants for Indian farmers. He is also chairman of Yupaa Group, a leading fresh fruit import and distribution company.
Andriy Yarmak
FAO
Andriy Yarmak is an economist at the Investment Centre of FAO. He has 28 years of international experience in agricultural market analytics, market strategy, export development and project management having worked in more than 30 countries. He is a frequent speaker at global and international events related to fruits and vegetables with in-depth knowledge of global fresh produce trends and trade. He is presently focusing on modern digital technologies, which could help reduce risks in horticulture, produce retail, and fruit and vegetable export diversification for countries in MENA, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Cindy van Rijswick
Rabobank Research Food & Agribusiness
Cindy is global strategist for fresh produce at Rabobank. She is responsible for setting and executing the research agenda for the fruit, vegetable, and floriculture sectors within the global RaboResearch Food & Agribusiness team. She and her colleagues publish research that is relevant to fresh produce companies worldwide, both in the corporate and rural domains. That research covers topics including the greenhouse industry, sustainability, robotics in horticulture, berries and the global avocado market. Cindy has over 20 years’ experience in research and has been a speaker at various fresh produce industry events.
Colin Fain
Agronometrics
Colin Fain is team lead for the IBO’s Global State of the Blueberry Industry Report and CEO of Agronometrics. He has dedicated his career to the fresh produce industry, delivering data-driven market insights to decision-makers. Born in Spain, raised in the US, he has taken the company from Chile to Switzerland, and is currently based in Mexico.
Dani Geng
Joy Wing Mau Fruit Technologies Corporation Limited
Over 7 years of management experience related to blueberry business, covering variety introduction, global sourcing, omni-channel distribution, brand marketing and industry insight and analysis. Working for Joy Wing Mau Fruit Technologies Corporation Limited, a leading company in China’s fruit industry, the company keeps dedicating to promote the prosperous development of China’s fruit industry, and has now achieved the No. 1 blueberry market share in China, and subsidiary brand “Joyvio Blueberry” has become the No. 1 blueberry brand in China.
Dr David Meszaros
Smartkas
David Meszaros established agtech disruptor Smartkas in 2020 to provide ‘food security as a service’. It combines artificial intelligence, robotics, renewable energy and water-neutral systems with high-precision technologies and a climate-neutral smart farming process. David has overseen the successful completion of 43 EU projects that provide solutions for renewable energy, smart cities, blockchain, drones, robotics and AI. In 2021, he was named in Forbes’ 30 under 30 list. Using artificial intelligence and data, he wants Smartkas to be present in every country of the world, and to establish fully automated community farms that are managed by local farmers who can then sell their crops independently.
Ekaterine Vepkhvadze
Agritouch
Ekaterine Vepkhvadze is founer of Agritouch, an agricultural project management consultancy, investment firm and exporter specialised in fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables. The company was one of the pioneers of commercial berry production in Georgia, where it focues on growing premium-quality varieties. Ekaterine received a Cochran USDA fellowship for agricultural professionals in the field of fruit value chain development and marketing, and an MBA degree from Grenoble Ecole de Management in France.
Hans Liekens
Sekoya Fruit
Hans Liekens joined Fall Creek as commercial manager for EMEA in September 2017. A commercial engineer by education, he has worked for over 25 years in different sales and marketing functions for various multinationals, such as Tropicana-PepsiCo, Campina, Chiquita and Hessing, with a clear focus on consumers and customers. In the blueberry industry, he has driven innovation and new ways of thinking. In May 2021, Hans added a new role at Fall Creek’s strategic business unit Sekoya, where he focuses on premium genetics while leveraging his consumer insights and global relations with retailers.
Hussein Hassan
Fresh All Green
Hussein entered the agriculture sector in 2006 having worked for a couple of local producers. In 2017, he started Fresh All Green, growing and exporting strawberries and table grapes to the UK, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and becoming one of the leading growers and operations gurus out of Egypt for premium quality strawberries.
Iuliia Tymoshenko
GVURA Ltd
Iuliia Tymoshenko is export director at Tiferet in Moldova. The company is involved in fruit and berry production and quick-freezing, with direct exports to clients in the EU and North America. She is a regular speaker and trainer at fruit business events, and serves as an adviser to EBRD and FAO projects in Eastern Europe, Caucasia, and Central Asia.
Katelyn Jones
BayWa Global Produce GmbH
Katelyn has been MD at BayWa Global Produce since 2021. In her role, she is responsible for strategy, business development, and partnerships for the BGP Group, which consists of around 3,500 employees across 17 countries. Previously, Katelyn managed category development and strategy at T&G Global. Katelyn has an MBA from ESCP Business School and a BA from Boston College.
Marco Snikkers
OneThird
Marco Snikkers is a CEO and entrepreneur with over 25 years’ experience of international business development in optical sensing, imaging and spectroscopy across various industries, including agriculture and food. Marco started OneThird in 2018 to solve two of the largest challenges faced in the food industry today: food waste and food scarcity.
Michiel Vermeiren
Coöperatie Hoogstraten
Michiel Vermeiren is currently responsible for fruit sales at Coöperatie Hoogstraten, a major player in the fresh produce business. Strawberries are the biggest category within its fruit segment, but Coöperatie Hoogstraten also offers blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and kiwiberries. Michiel started his career in Hoogstraten as sales and business analyst in 2020. He worked on different projects to gain more insight into the organisation’s data and processes. From that position, he worked intensively with the sales team and stepped up to team leader of the soft fruit team in 2022.
Mihai Ciobanu
Fresh4cast Ltd
Mihai started his career forecasting stock market prices in the 1990s. He then moved into consumer goods, leading brands and then businesses for Unilever, Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson. In 2013, he started training in machine learning and founded Fresh4cast in order to improve predictability and sustainability in fresh produce.
Miller Preciado
Elite Blu
Miller Preciado is a passionate agricultural engineer with a vision for the opportunities that exist in the agricultural world. With an MBA in finance, his career has led me to become a management specialist, overseeing successful projects that have propelled the agro-industrial sector to new heights.
Mouhssine Ismaili
iberry
Mouhssine, an agricultural engineer, has dedicated his career to the farming industry. He started in processed tomatoes and peppers, transitioned to berries in 2010, and gained respect among growers that has been crucial to Iberry’s success. A proud Moroccan, he also thinks from an international perspective, from which the company derives its strategy.
Natasha Solano
Hellmann Worldwide Logistics
Natasha Solano has dedicated nearly 25 years of her career to transportation and logistics of perishable cargo with a focus on airfreight. Having started in the flower transportation segment with Martinair Cargo, Natasha has subsequently worked for Yusen Logistics and Kuehne+Nagel, and joined Hellmann in 2023.
Oleksandr Pukshyn
Blue Berry LLC
Oleksandr Pukshyn has worked for family business Blue Berry for ten years. He is responsible for all of the company’s sales on international and local markets. In 2021, he started the Blueberry-52 program with Ukrainian retailers, supplying blueberries to local markets during the overseas season.
Omar Elnaggar
Bloom Fruit Consultants
With over 20 years in the industry internationally, Omar recently spearheaded Bloom Fruit Consultants from Cairo, Egypt offering growers and buyers commercial and due diligence expertise in supplying worldwide markets in the most ideal partnership. With a global commercial focus, he is thoroughly versed in logistics, varietal development/ licensing/IPR and the supply chain.
Raffaele Benedetti
Unitec
Raffaele Benedetti has been sales manager at Unitec Group since 2008, and over the years he has contributed to the expansion and consolidation of its international trading network. He started as area manager, before he moved to Spain to coordinate its Unitec Iberica branch. He has participated in several international fruit and veg industry seminars and conferences, delivering talks on the topic of post-harvest technologies.
Robbrecht den Engelse
Buro Loods
Robbrecht den Engelse is founder of Buro Loods and responsible for the creative and strategic development of multi-disciplinary projects, in order to deliver commercial succes for its clients. With more than 20 years’ experience in developing retail solutions for major European food retailers, he enjoys working together with specialists from other disciplines to achieve the best end results.
Salih Hodzhov
W B Chambers Farms Limited
Salih has over 20 years’ experience in farming. A graduate of Shumen University in Bulgaria, Salih joined UK firm WB Chambers Farms in 2001, first as a fruit picker and eventually farm manager. In 2018, Salih became production and operations director and, as of 2021, his role has been chief operating officer. He works closely with Chambers’ partner growers in Spain, Morocco, and Mexico to maintain large-scale commercial production. A past member of the AHDB soft fruit panel, Salih is now a member of the R&D board of British Berry Growers.
Shannon Boase
CKF
Shannon founded Earthcycle Packaging in 2005 and eight years later sold the company to CKF,a global leader in thermoformed moulded fibre packaging for the fresh produce industry. Her role at CKF is to make that home-compostable, recyclable, and FSC-certified packaging a relevant and sustainable choice. She does this by helping international retailers and fresh produce suppliers to integrate Earthcycle into their highly automated packing lines, and to create more sustainable supply chains.
Theo Slaats
YieldComputer
Theo Slaats, a dynamic figure in ICT and agriculture, has founded successful companies that focus on delivering value with a pragmatic approach. In 2020, he assumed the role of CEO at YieldComputer. Today, he shares his insights on revenue optimisation and cost reduction in soft fruit farming.
