MEET THE SPEAKERS

Carlo Berardi

Good Produce

Carlo Berardi looks after the UK imports for his family business, Agrimessina, and manages the UK company Good Produce, which handles imports of fresh produce from over 10 countries. Agrimessina is a leading Italian grower-exporter of seedless table grapes, accounting for over 80 per cent of the Italian grapes sold in the UK.

Carlo Magni

Forward Insight & Strategy

Carlo is global consumer insights director at Forward Insight & Strategy. He is passionate about delivering consumer insights and strategic advice on innovation and branding to leading primary sector organisations to build growth, value return, and competitive advantage.

Cindy van Rijswick

Rabobank

Cindy van Rijswick is the fresh produce strategist within Rabobank’s global Food & Agribusiness research team. She has published numerous reports and presented at leading industry events on a wide variety of topics including sustainability, the global table grape market, berries, the world of vegetables and AI and robotics in horticulture.

Desmond Jas

Olympic Fruit

Desmond Jas is CEO of Dutch importer and distributor Olympic Fruit. The Barendrecht-based company imports fruit from all over the world, sourced from year-round fixed grower partners and two of its own growing locations in South Africa and Macedonia. Its clients include many retailers and wholesalers in Northwest Europe.

Dimitrios Spanos

Grape Evolution

Dimitrios Spanos is an agronomist who has worked in the table grape business for the past 24 years. This includes time as production manager, grape technologist and grape buyer for one of the major grape importers and category managers in UK retail business. In 2011 he took over the role of R&D on grapes inside Fresca Group UK and developed a series of evaluation fields of new varieties. In 2016, he set up Grape Evolution, the license and evaluation company for the grape varieties of Israel’s Volcani Institute.

Enja Matthee

Farmable

Enja Matthee is business development manager at Farmable, a revolutionary farm data management system that simplifies compliance requirements. She graduated from Stellenbosch University with a BSc in Agricultural Economics and Food Science and has five years of experience in the fresh food supply chain of South Africa.

Giuseppe Borracci

Serroplast

Giuseppe is new market developer and new technology researcher at Serroplast in Italy. Having earned a degree in Business and Administration in Milan, he gained work experience at a seafreight company for the transportation of ethylene and petroleum, before integrating this experience at Serroplast. Giuseppe likes to explore and find solutions to create better ways of working for the company and its stakeholders.

Giuseppe Cacucci

Upgrape

Giuseppe Cacucci is an agronomist field consultant and partner in agronomic consultancy company Food Agri Service. He owns Upgrape, a digital project dedicated to training and consultancy in the table grape supply chain. Giuseppe also runs table grape producing company Chèuva with his brother Giovanni.

Jim Jefcoate

Food Experts

Jim Jefcoate has spent 38 years in the produce industry as technical director at Del Monte, IPL and Asda. Other positions include senior director at Walmart, Asda Foundation trustee, GlobalGAP vice chairman and a member of the Fresh Produce Consortium Council. Jim currently divides his time between FoodExperts, Frupro and Selvador, a rainforest start-up.

John Pandol

Pandol Brothers

John Pandol is director of special projects for Pandol Brothers Inc, a produce sales business based in Delano, California. Since the 1980s, John has been involved in sourcing, operations and business development across the supply chain. Clocking up hundreds of retail stores visits and dozens of produce industry events every year, John comments frequently in the produce press, on online forums and at industry events.

Josefina Mena

Moyca

Josefina Mena is commercial director of Moyca Grapes. As well as overseeing Moyca’s European business she has helped position the company’s extensive range of innovative grape varieties in new markets like Asia and Africa. Being a frequent visitor to these regions has allowed her to learn about their cultures and habits and develop programmes that meet the demands of the final consumer.

Massimiliano Del Core

Ortofrutta Italia

Massimiliano Del Core is president of Ortofrutta Italia, the Interprofessional Organisation that represents the Italian fruit and vegetable supply chain. He is also president of OP Meridia, an agricultural cooperative with over 500ha of production in Puglia, Basilicata and Sicily. He is actively involved in the institutional activity of the sector, contributing, among other things, to the creation of the Table Grape District and the Italian Table Grape Commission.

Massimo Bellotti

Cartonpack

Massimo Bellotti is export sales director of Cartonpack, a leading packaging supplier to the fruit and vegetable industry. The company develops innovative packaging solutions in line with market trends. In his role, Bellotti partners with customers to find the most cost effective systems and develop customised, sustainable and efficient packaging solutions for their business.

Maurizio Ventura

Sun World

Maurizio Ventura has been responsible for the Sun World licensing business in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and France since 2006. His background includes varietal genetic improvement, research in germplasm and fruit ripening and the use of NIR technology. He has also been involved in phytosanitary certification and quality assurance in the plant nursery industry.

Nomi Karniel-Padan

Grapa Varieties

Nomi Karniel-Padan is commercial director at Grapa Varieties, where she spearheads global marketing and brand development. Born into a family of farmers, she grew up immersed in the world of table grape agriculture. Nomi ensures Grapa’s prominent position in the table grape industry. Grapa Varieties, founded by her family, specialises in breeding, and commercialising the finest table grape varieties under the Arra and Early Sweet brands.