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.

Apáti Ferenc is a member of the Hungarian Advisory Board of the Minister of Agriculture and Associate Professor and Head of the Institute of Horticulture at the Faculty of Agriculture, Food Sciences and Environmental Management of the University of Debrecen. His main field of research is the economics of companies in the agricultural and food industry. His research focuses on analysing fruit and vegetable cultivation as well as the market and business analysis of fruit and vegetable processing. He also grows apples on his family farm and is therefore also a committed representative of Hungarian horticulture with practical relevance.

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 an engineer in horticultural sciences from the University of Budapest.
• Since 1998 Ministry of Rural Development in the fields of agricultural production and agricultural markets.
• Participated in development projects for several Hungarian institutions in preparation for EU accession.
• Since 2004 implementation of the common market organisation for fruit and vegetables.
• Represented Hungary at the meetings of the Management Committee in Brussels.
• From 2012 - 2019 Deputy Head of Department for Market Organisation in Agriculture (Fruit, Vegetables, Pigs, Poultry).
• From 2019 - 2023 Head of the Department of Market Organisation in Agriculture and since July 2023 Head of the Department of Market Organisation at the Ministry of Agriculture.

Starting with her education in food engineering, Kristine Bori 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 has been in charge of support provided to the fruit and vegetables sector within the framework of the CAP Strategic plans. 

Wolfgang Harreither has an agricultural background and studied biotechnology at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences. Since 2017, he has been significantly involved in the further development of Valibiotics AG. Wolfgang Harreither is the CEO of the Valibiotics Group and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Swiss company Valibiotics AG and Managing Director of the Austrian  subsidiary Valibiotics GmbH. Wolfgang Harreither sees the future of agriculture in regenerative or hybrid farming, where the use of chemical products is reduced to a sensible minimum and replaced with sustainable technologies. 

Nikki Hulzebos has worked as a project manager for sustainability in the floriculture sector for Royal Flora Holland, the largest flower auction in the world. Currently, Hulzebos is employed by the Fresh Produce Centre as Programme Manager for Sustainability & Certification and covers all topics related to sustainability. He specialises in the impact of crop protection products, the ecological footprint, CSRD, food loss & waste and packaging. Nikki Hulzebos is also chairman of the Dutch National Technical Working Group (NTWG) of GLOBAL G.A.P. and member of the expert panel for 'On the way to Planet Proof'. 

• 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 cherry production company

• Born in 1976, graduated in Political Science at the University of Bologna, Italy.
• Master in Organisation and Economic Development at the Profingest Management School.
• Since 2002 working in the framework of structural funds and other support programmes for companies, espescially in the agricultural sector.
• Since 2010 Director of F.IN.A.F. - Europe's largest association of fruit and vegetable producer organisations.
• Since 2016 Member of the Board of Directors of AREFLH - the association of European horticultural regions - as a member of the CMO Committee and involved in the drafting of the 'CMO White Paper'. Since 2025 Vice President of AREFLH (FR).

Dr. Matthias Nachtmann is a leading expert in digital farming innovation. As founder and chair of friends of digital farming and former digital farming leader in BASF, he bridges practice, technology and science to advance sustainable productivity in the agrifood sector. He co-edited the Handbook Digital Farming (Springer, 2022 & 2024) and regularly contributes to International conferences, focusing on agricultural data ecosystems and value chain transformation.

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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 region in 2021. He brings experience from ERBER Future Business, where he was involved in innovation projects in the agricultural technology sector. Benedikt Pircher studied at the University of Natural Resources and Life Science in Vienna (BOKU) and at the University of Applied Sciences in Wiener Neustadt. As part of the Leadership Team, he helps to define the company's strategic direction, expand its market presence, and strengthen customer relationships.

Siegfried Rappel is Managing Director of Erzeugergemeinschaft Obst Steiermark GmbH. After studying business administration at the Karl-Franzens University in Graz, he held management positions in the food industry and agricultural sector, including at 'Frank's Naturprodukte', 'Schirnhofer' and Erzeugerorganisation 'Steirisches Gemüse' GmbH. He specialises in corporate management, quality and project management, strategy development and sales. His expertise is complemented by International experience, systemic organisational development and indepth knowledge of production, logistics and controlling.

Ton van Dalen graduated in 1987 at the Wageningen University & Research. He worked for different companies in the horticulturale sector. 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 almost 1 billion euros. In addition to the work for Oxin Growers Ton van Dalen is chairman of DPA (Dutch Produce Association), a board member of FoodCompass and a board member at FVO (Federation of Fruit Vegetable Organisations) among other things. FVO is a collaboration of the five producer organisations 'Harvest House', 'Growers United', 'ZON', 'The Greenery' and 'Oxin Growers' on a non-competitive basis. Within the FVO Ton van Dalen 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 centre of the Belgian fruit-growing region. He has a Master's degree in Political and Social Sciences and worked for the Flemish Farmers' Union from 1986 until 2018. He spent the first years of his career as an educator in the 'Young Farmers and Rural Youth Movement. In 1988, he became the national chairman of these organisations.  In 1996, he moved to the study department of the Boerenbond as a consultant for social law. In this position, he took part in the European social dialogue in the agricultural and horticultural sector. From 2002 to 2007, he was a fruit-growing advisor and national director of the farmers' organisation in Limburg. He then returned to the research department as a horticultural advisor. He then became a European and international advisor for farmers' union. Since 2018, he has been General Secretary of the Federation of Belgian Horticultural Co-operatives (VBT) and Chairman of COPA-COGECA Fruit and Vegetables Working Group.

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.