Michael Barker is a journalist, editor and speaker with 20 years of experience covering the food, farming and retail sectors. He is currently a contributing editor at the Fresh Produce Journal, where he worked as editor for 10 years, and is a former fresh foods editor of leading supermarket weekly The Grocer, editor of Commercial Grower and business editor at Grower magazine.

He was our moderator in 2017 and we are delighted to have him confirmed to moderate the congress again.

‍

As he explains himself:

"The International Strawberry Congress is an excellent forum for debate and learning about the future of such an important crop. It features leading speakers delivering high-quality presentations, aswell as insightful panel discussions and the opportunity for delegates to have their say. Both socially and from a business point of view, it’s a great event for anyone involved in the global strawberry trade."

After being a respected member ofthe Flemish parliament in Brussels for almost 15 years, Kathleen Helsen was elected to the Provincial Council of Antwerp in 2018 and became Vice-Governor with a broad range of responsibilities. 

Many of them are related to Helsen’s activities at the Flemish parliament, where she was chairing the commission on education. Reducing the gap between education and employment remains one of her priorities. This also involves motivating students to pickup one of the broad variety of jobs in the agricultural business, which is among the main economic sectors in this province. 

Being the vice-governor for rural development, Helsen is dedicated to reinforcing rural areas, spending extra attention on the social and economic livability of rural villages. 

When it comes to agriculture, Kathleen Helsen sets out two major objectives: the adaptation to climate change and an ongoing investment in innovation. The province of Antwerp is number one in Flanders on greenhouse horticulture. Space, water and energy are the main challenges. For each of them the  Provincial Council invests in the research and development of durable solutions.

Daniel Levine is one of the world's best-known trends experts. He is the director of the Avant-Guide Institute, a New York-based consultancy that helps some of the world's largest companies, brands and investors profit from trends. Daniel is a frequent guest on TV and radio and was named "the ultimate guru of cool" by CNN. He leads a global team of trend-spotters who track the latest ideas and experiences around the globe and his corporate partners include some of the world's most notable names, from General Motors, American Express and Microsoft, to Christian Dior, South African Tourism and the UNWTO.

‍

At the International Strawberry Congress​, Daniel will help us prepare for tomorrow’s world and be more relevant, innovative and profitable.

‍

"I passionately believe robotics can make an enormous positive difference to farmers. Technology is allowing an ever-growing number of jobs done on many farms to be easily transferred to robots, freeing up time and resource to focus on the jobs which require human involvement. And the results are backing us up,with customers saving significant amounts of labour time/cost and improving yields. And we are still only the early foothills of what we’ll see in coming years!"

Pål Johan From is CEO of Saga Robotics, the company responsible for the design, development, and production of the world-leading agricultural robot, Thorvald.

‍
Pål is also a professor in agricultural robotics at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences where he is head of the robotics group.

‍

Prof. Terry is a leading international figure in postharvest research.  He became Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation at Cranfield University in 2021.   His personal scholarship has been driven by a need to preserve and maintain the quality of food to reduce losses.  

‍

Cindy van Rijswick is Global Strategist for Fresh Produce within Rabobank’s food & agribusiness research team. She has over twenty years of research experience and focuses on the fresh fruit and vegetable sectors. She published numerous reports and articles on various topics including sustainability, the global berry market and greenhouse strawberries and has been a keynote speaker at several international fresh produce events such as the PMA, Global Berry Congress and Fruit Logistica. Her research and analyses are key deliverables for Rabobank customers and prospects, both in the corporate and rural domains.