Speakers

Investment banker with 30 years of capital markets experience specializing in financing, capital, and equity market transactions. Throughout his career he has covered corporations and investors in the United States, Canada, Europe, Mexico, and Latin America. Originally from Mexico City, he has worked in Toronto and New York. He has traveled throughout Latin America for more than 15 years, seeking opportunities for the world's leading global financial firms. His expertise extends to public debt placements of different companies through BIVA and the Mexican Stock Exchange. After a successful banking career, at the end of 2018, he decided to follow his passion and create a consulting firm that advises companies on their financial needs, through his expertise in the rapidly evolving funding criteria of investors and Banks, including practices for a sustainable future. He has 5 years of experience advising agribusiness focused companies to obtain financing for their growth, as well as guiding them to strengthen their corporate practices to achieve better financial terms. Member of the Mexican Sustainable Finance Council, Financial Advisor to AMHPAC and CDAAJ, Honorary Member of the Sustainability Committee of the Mexican Food Bank Network.

PhD in Environmental Policy from Wageningen University and MA in Anthropology from the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands. She has headed the department of sustainable value chains (32 researchers of 8 nationalities) at Wageningen Social & Economic Research. She has been responsible for high quality consultancy for clients such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN), the International Labor Organization (ILO), private sector companies and NGOs. In addition, she has worked as senior project manager for The Sustainability Consortium, USA (www.sustainabilityconsortium.org/), where she developed key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure social sustainability along value chains. She also worked for the Rainforest Alliance as global lead on forced labor, and was responsible for the global strategy on this issue and, together with other global issue leaders, designed the new code of conduct for certification.

Dedicated to Mexican agriculture, he leads VISER Proyecta, a consultancy to professionalize organizations in the primary sector. Specialized in agricultural marketing and communication strategies. Former Executive Director of Meister Media Worldwide and AMHPAC. He participated in the defense of the Mexican tomato before the USA. He was Agricultural Manager at Ciruli Brothers and Director of Commercial Promotion at ASERCA/SAGARPA, promoting international trade. Recognized, he seeks to continue learning and contributing to the agricultural sector. His experience ranges from consulting to industry representation and trade policy development.

Agricultural Engineer from ITESM Querétaro, expert in high-tech greenhouse crops. He was Production Manager at AGROS S.A. de C.V. and co-founder of the Koppert Rapel Research and Training Centre (CEICKOR). Currently, he directs CEICKOR and its University Centre, which offers a degree in Agricultural Engineering in Protected Agriculture. He advises companies in Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica and the USA, cultivating 250 hectares of tomato, pepper and cucumber crops. His experience ranges from production to education and international consultancy.

He graduated from the Universidad Autónoma de Chapingo in 2015 and worked as a Grower Jr. at the hydroponic lettuce producer ‘EVA’ called Next Vegetales in León, Guanajuato.  He currently works as a Grower at Finka in San Antonio, managing high-tech greenhouses, testing new substrates and varieties with resistance to TBRFV, making efficient use of water and fertilizer resources.

With Master's degrees in Crop Protection (France) and Business Administration (ITESM), he is an Agricultural Engineer from ITESM. His career started in 1984 at Bird's Eye de México. He worked at Monsanto (1991-2002), ASOSID (2002) and Organic Trust Farms (2007-2011). In 2011, he joined Hortigen Produce and in 2014 Finca Ahuehuetes, where he remained until 2023. Currently, he is Consultant at Alternativa Agricola Sustentable. His experience ranges from large corporations to sustainable agriculture projects.

Specialist in automation for the greenhouse horticulture industry with more than five years of experience in the sector in the Netherlands. His focus is on the development and implementation of advanced technological solutions to optimize production in controlled environments. In addition, he has a strong knowledge of plant physiology, which enables him to gain a deep understanding of crop needs and to apply technologies that support crop development. Throughout his career, he has worked on the integration of technologies such as climate control systems, automated irrigation, crop monitoring using sensors and the use of artificial intelligence to optimize resources. His experience has allowed him to develop a deep knowledge in automation, increasing productivity and reducing the environmental impact in the industry. With a deep knowledge of the horticultural sector in the Netherlands, Jorge has specialized in adapting technological innovations to different types of crops and climatic conditions. His commitment to technological innovation has led him to specialize in the sector, thus contributing to the evolution of greenhouse horticulture

She holds a doctorate degree in Administration Sciences from UNAM. She is currently  a member of the research team for the protected agriculture Water Footprint project lead by the Social Science Research Institute of the UNAM.  She has worked as a consultant since 2001, focusing on the intersection of agribusiness and social economy, market research and strategic planning efforts, and development of diverse social enterprises in the agricultural and food sector in Mexico. She has consistently integrated consulting and acaPharis runs Plantanova, a company for the propagation of grafted horticultural seedlings for high-tech hydroponic greenhouses. His work ranges from technology promotion to agricultural production. Horticonnect PL is a Dutch business platform that connects technology, services and knowledge companies for protected horticulture. Its main task is to build bridges of collaboration between the Netherlands and the Mexican horticultural sector, proposing synergistic solutions. In the Netherlands, it promotes collaboration between companies to develop technology and knowledge transfer, seeking efficiency and profitability in Mexican greenhouses, as well as translating the needs of the sector.demic research directed around organizational administration for rural development initiatives and agroindustrial districts. She is Professor in the Accounting and Administration Department and the Social and Political Sciences Department at UNAM. 

He has worked in the greenhouse industry since 2005, working in Mexico until 2014, at Agropark Querétaro for about 7 years. At the end of 2014, he decided to increase his international work experience and moved to the United States, currently working at Nature Fresh Farms USA, a company dedicated to the production of conventional tomatoes of all types and organic strawberry production.

He oversaw strengthening the growth of Globalmex producers and responsible for developing new partnerships with more producers. Non-agricultural social geographer. Former president of AMHPAC from 2016 to 2019. From 2007 to 2021 he was Director of FreshMex, building a network of suppliers and own production of pepper, cemented by a team of professionals for export to USA and Canada using his trading company Levarht. He is currently a Consultant in Phoenix.

Pharis runs Plantanova, a company for the propagation of grafted horticultural seedlings for high-tech hydroponic greenhouses. His work ranges from technology promotion to agricultural production. Horticonnect PL is a Dutch business platform that connects technology, services and knowledge companies for protected horticulture. Its main task is to build bridges of collaboration between the Netherlands and the Mexican horticultural sector, proposing synergistic solutions. In the Netherlands, it promotes collaboration between companies to develop technology and knowledge transfer, seeking efficiency and profitability in Mexican greenhouses, as well as translating the needs of the sector.

Agricultural engineer graduated from the Tec de Monterrey. He has been dedicated to vegetable production in protected agriculture for more than 20 years. This journey began in Murcia, Spain, where he specialized in the design and installation of greenhouses and fertigation systems. Upon his return to Mexico, he dedicated himself to the production of tomato and cucumber in high-tech greenhouses. He has been production advisor for several companies in Mexico and for the last 10 years he has been managing Natura Quality Foods, a company dedicated to the production of seedlings, cucumbers and specialty tomatoes, certified in Fair Trade, SMETA, Primus, Senasica. Rafael has given several courses and lectures at conferences on Integrated Greenhouse Management, as well as on Perspectives of Protected Agriculture in Mexico.