Qualification: 

PDE - Management Development Programme at AESE Business School
GAIN - Management of Agribusiness at AESE Business School
Market Driving Strategies at the London Business School
Bachelor of Agriculture at ESACB

Goncalo Santos Andrade has been representing the Portuguese F&V sector in more than 50 countries, in four different continents, during the last eight years. Five years ago, he joined the board of the Portuguese Farmers' Union where he was responsible  for all climate change and environmental issues. Apart from that he has 30 years of experience concerning the soft fruit industry and other fruit and vegetables products. In 2005 he founded Lusomorango, S.A. - the 1^st Berries Producer Organization in Portugal. From 2006 to 2008 he was the vice president of FNOP - Portuguese Federation of Producers Organizations. He is the fourth generation to run the family agricultural business Casa Prudencio.

Ferenc is although member of the Advisory Board of the Minister of Agriculture, associate professor and head of the Institute of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Food Sciences and Environmental Management, University of Debrecen. His main field of education is the economics of agricultural  and food industry enterprises. The focus of his research is the analysis of vegetable and fruit cultivation, as well as the market and business analysis of fruit and vegetable processing. He also grows apples on his family farm, so he is a committed representative of Hungarian horticulture from the production side.

Philippe Appeltans graduated in 1995 as an agricultural engineer at the Catholic University of Leuven. He started his professional career as a consultant for young farmers. In 1997 he was appointed as president of the Belgian young Farmers and became member of the Executive Board of Boerenbond, the Belgian Farmers' Union. In 2003 he became senior adviser for the horticultural sector in the research department of the Belgian Farmers' Union, and in 2007 Secretary general of VBT - The Association of Belgian Horticultural Cooperatives. From October 2016 until June 2019 he has been strongly involved in the European fresh produce sector and policy as the Chairman of the Copa-Cogeca Fruit and Vegetable Working Party. Since September 2018 he is the CEO of BelOrta, the largest Belgian cooperative in the fruit and vegetable sector with 1200 active growers, 500 employees and a turnover of more than 600 million Euros.

 Graduated as engineer in horticultural sciences in Budapest.Working for the Ministry of Rural Development since 1998 in the fields of Agricultural Production and Agricultural Markets. Participated in development project for several Hungarian Institutions in the way of preparing the EU accession. Since 2004 working on the implementing of the Common Market Organisation of fruit and vegetables. Represented Hungary at the Management Committee Meetings in Brussels. From 2012 - 2019 he was Deputy Head of Department for market organisation in Agriculture (fruit, vegetable, porc, poultry). From 2019 - 2023 he was Head of Unit for market organisation in Agriculture and from Juli 2023 he is Head of Department for market organisation in the Ministry of Agriculture.

Starting with her education in food engineering, she has always been working with issues related to agriculture and rural development whether it was at the public administration, milk laboratory or working on a farm with her parents. With a background like that starting at the Latvian Ministry of Agriculture, she joined the Commission in 2004 and held various positiions in the area of rural development (young farmers, farm business development). In 2019, she moved on within DG AGRI to become responsible for management of fruit and vegetables support. Since 2022, she is in charge of support provided to the fruit and vegetables sector within the framework of the CAP Strategic plans. 

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Previously Nikki worked amongst others as a Project Manager. Sustainability in floricultural sector for the Royal Flora Holland, the largest flower auction in the world. Currently within the Fresh Produce Centre Nikki is Program Manager for Sustainability & Certification, covering all sustainability related topics. He is specialized in crop protection impact methods, environmental foot printing, CSRD, food loss & waste and packaging. Nikki is also the chair of the Dutch National Technical Working Group (NTWG) of GLOBAL G.A.P. and a member of the college of experts for On the way to Planet Proof. Nikki will be discussing the result of the Product Environmental Footprint Project Category Rules (PEFCR) method that was being developed within an European consortium for the fresh produce sector. One question was how the sector can contribute to becoming more sustainable and how we can go to one system to assess sustainability.

• 20 years of experience in the F&V sector in different fields
• 10 years of experience in PO management and operational programmes in Hungary
• managing director of Medifruct Kft
• partner of a stone fruit cherry farming company

She graduated in Political Science at the University of Bologna, Italy. She also graduated in Organization and Economic Development and, since 2002 she has been working with Structural Funds and other funding facilitated to businesses, particularly in the agricultural sector. 

Since 2010 she has been working as a project manager and CMO officer for F.IN.A.F., the First International Fruit Association. This APO has been the first trans-national APO in Europe to associate 18 POs and about 9.000 agricultural producers. Since 2022 she has been working as director of F.IN.A.F. and since 2025 she is the vice president of AREFLH (FR).

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Benedikt Pircher is the Vicepresident of Sales at Pessl Instruments, where he has been shaping strategic partnerships and driving growth since joining as Key Account Manager for the DACH in 2021. He brings prior experience from ERBER Future Business, where he contributed to innovation projects in the agri-tech sector. Benedikt studied at the University of Life Science in Vienna (BOKU) and at the University of Applied Science in Wiener Neustadt. As part of the Leadership Team, he helps define the company's strategic direction, expand market presence, and strengthen customer relationships.

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Ton van Dalen graduated in 1987 at the Wageningen University & Research. He worked for different companies in the Horticulture. In 2012 he was appointed as CEO of Best of Four, a producer organization of fruit and vegetables in Barendrecht. In 2020 Best of Four merged with Van Nature, another producer organization, to Oxin Growers. Oxin Growers is one of the largest cooperatives of the Netherlands with 230 active growers of fruit and vegetables and a turnover of nearly 1 billion euro's. In addition to the work for Oxin Growers Ton is chairman of DPA (Dutch Produce Association), boardmember of FoodCompass and boardmember at FVO (Federation of Fruit Vegetable Organisations) among other things. FVO is a collaboration of five producer organisations Harvest House, Growers United, ZON, the Greenery and Oxin Growers on a non-competitive basis. Within the FVO Ton is responsible for the project '100% Green Growing', the Green Growing Expert Centre and the implementation of the Fresh Produce PEFCR. The purpose of this is to grow vegetables without synthetic pesticides in a profitable way with the lowest possible impact on the environment.

Luc Vanoirbeek lives in Zepperen (Belgium), in the middle of the Belgian fruit region. He holds a master degree in political and social sciences and worked for the Flemish Farmers' Union from 1986 until 2018. He spent the early years of his career as an educator in the movement for young farmers and rural youth. In 1988 he became the national chairman of those organizations.  In 1996 he switched to the study department of the Boerenbond as an advisor in social legislation. In that position he took part in the European Social Dialogue in the agricultural and horticultural sector. From 2002 to 2007 he was a fruit cultivation advisor and provincial director of the farmers's union in Limburg, after which he returned to the research department as a horticultural advisor. He then became a European and international advisor for farmers' union to conclude his career in the agricultural organization as spokesman. Since 2018 he is the general secretary of the association of Belgian horticultural cooperatives (VBT) and chairman of the working party Fruit and Vegetables of COPA-COGECA.

Cindy van Rijswick is a Global Strategist for Fresh Produce within Rabobank's worldwide Food & Agribusiness Research team. She is responsible of setting and executing the research agenda. During her over two decades long career span, Cindy has published reports on a range of topics, from sustainability in fresh produce to the greenhouse sector to the global berry sector. Moreover, she regularly acts as a keynote speaker at (international) conferences. Her analyses and visions are instrumental for Rabobank's activities and clients in the food & agribusiness.