Before joining 80 Acres Farms, Victor was responsible for securing a long-term food supply for Walmart’s growth demand. From 2010 to 2020, Victor developed direct supply chains from Mexico to the US and later, as Director of Agricultural Strategy, led Produce Resilient Sourcing at Walmart Inc. From 2000 to 2010, Victor worked with Nature Sweet Tomatoes, as Vice President of Business Development, launching branded flavorful snacking tomatoes. Victor started his professional career on a family farm in Tampico, Mexico and for fourteen years operated as an export grower shipping produce to the US market. Victor holds a BS in Agronomy and an MS in Horticulture from Texas A & M University.

In addition to utilizing data to improve the operational efficiency of plant factories, Katashi has improved the quality control field, producing lettuce that can be eaten without washing by performing advanced hygiene management. Before joining the company in 2012, Katashi worked at a Japanese food manufacturing company engaging in research, production, and organic vegetables and herbs for fourteen years – seven years in Japan, seven years in New Zealand. Katashi holds a BS and a Master's degree in Agricultural Sciences from Nagoya University in Japan. Katashi is also a board member of Leaf lab Inc., a venture seed company specializing in plant factories.

AeroFarms has been recognized as a Circular Economy 100 company, listed on Fast Company’s 2019 global list of Most Innovative Companies and featured on Inc. Magazine’s list of the 25 Most Disruptive Companies. AeroFarms also received the New Jersey Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence and ranked number one on the 2020 FoodTech 500 list, which highlighted global entrepreneurial talent at the intersection between food, technology and sustainability. AeroFarms received the inaugural Global Sustainable Development Goal Award for Zero Hunger, was listed as one of Time Magazine’s 2019 Best Inventions and received The Ethical Corporation’s 2020 Responsible Business Award in Sustainable Innovation. David dedicates his time to several local and international organizations. As a member of the World Economic Forum, David co-founded and co-chaired the Young Global Leaders Circular Economy Taskforce and is a member of the World Economic Forum Global IoT Council. David was also a member of the U.S. delegation to the B20 Sustainable Food System Taskforce, which advises the G20. In addition, David serves as a Managing Trustee of New Jersey’s Liberty Science Center, a prominent U.S. interactive science museum, and is on the Board of Directors of Aspire, a leader in insect proteins, and Clara Foods, a leader in non-animal based egg proteins. David is a mentor at Endeavor, as well, where he helps impact entrepreneurs. David is the founder of Hycrete, a nano-technology company that he led between 2002-2009. David was previously an Adjunct Professor at the New York University Stern School of Business where he taught Entrepreneurial Finance. In 2017, David was privileged to co-chair New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy’s Agriculture Transition Committee. In 2020 David accepted an honor on behalf of AeroFarms for its leading work with the New Jersey Reentry Corporation in providing second chance opportunities to people previously incarcerated. David has been honored by the Liberty Science Center as a 2019 Genius Innovator, recognized as Ernst & Young’s (NJ) Entrepreneur of the Year (Food and Beverage) and was named one of the 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs at Goldman Sachs’ 2019 Annual Builders and Innovators Summit. In 2008, the World Economic Forum recognized David as Technology Pioneer for his nanotechnology company and in 2010 as a Young Global Leader. David received his BA from UNC Chapel Hill and holds an MBA from Columbia University. He competed for the U.S. in fencing where he was a finalist at a world cup and represented the NYAC, winning three U.S. National Team Fencing Championships and two individual silver medals.

Henry earned his BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, coursework in Food Security and Urban Agriculture from Ryerson University in Toronto, and an MSc in Sustainability Management from Columbia University. In 2014, Henry responded to a global need for technology-agnostic guidance on urban agriculture by launching the advisory firm Agritecture Consulting which has now consulted on over 100 urban agriculture projects in over 25 countries.

AgroUrbana integrates and develops advanced technologies to grow quality vegetables in an efficient and sustainable way throughout the year and in locations where agriculture does not exist today. Vice President of Chile California Council y Mentor of Chile Global Ventures from Fundación Chile. Previously, he spent 10 years developing the solar industry in Latam as Head of Project Development and Chile Country Manager for First Solar and as Co-Founder and CEO of Solar Chile. Industrial Engineer Degree from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and MBA from Haas Business School, UC Berkeley.

He has executed numerous projects in academia, public organizations and NGOs in a wide spectrum of fields; green structures, urban policymaking, innovation in the global food system and vertical farming. Ramin has been working for AVF since 2018 and now serves as the vice-chair of the board.

She pursued further studies where she obtained a Degree in Marketing & Communication. Qualifying as Marketing Expert in her Category thereafter an MBA. Josephine worked her way up into senior management positions with global organizations, focusing on marketing and sales of consumer luxury goods and services in foreign markets, enabling her to reach the strategic management level in various multinational companies in Switzerland. In addition, Josephine has more than 20-years’ experience in executive education enabling her to develope instructional programs and curricula for learning institutions. She is still a very dedicated Language and Communication instructor that continues: To foster positional learning environments for students with diverse learning difficulties; to maximize individual student performance; and to develop student interest in all learning environment. Since a very young age, Josephine has been involved in humanitarian projects, leading her to visit various communities in Africa where she actively engages herself in various programs on food security while running various outreach programs. The Vertical Farming movement has become a passion for Josephine; she sees it as a necessity to teach future generations about the next step to Agriculture by using state-of-the-art technologies brought forward. By doing this, she is actively involved in agriculture policies, performance, structure, growth while economically empowering the Youth of Africa.

Their product is an AI-powered container farm that produces carbon-negative insect feed. Better Origin aims is to tackle food waste, mitigate carbon emissions, and increase food production. For supermarkets, food producers, and farmers, they want to make insect farming easy and widespread.

BoomGrow is on a mission to transform farming by producing 100% clean and nutritious goodness, introducing trust and traceability back into the food system through patent pending Machine Farms. BoomGrow is leading the narrative on hyper-local farming in South East Asia. With a farm on demand service backed by automation and AI, it has integrated plant science in a controlled environment to introduce fresh produce, minimise food miles and eliminate wastage. Jay previously spent over 15 years in Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) advisory, carbon assessments and sustainability disclosure. She has a PhD in standards of sustainability from Queen Mary, University of London. She sits on the curriculum panel of multiple public universities, advising on AgTech.

Bowery is the largest vertical farming company in the United States, serving more than 850 grocery stores and major e-commerce platforms. In her role, Katie spearheads efforts to build Bowery’s commercial presence in new markets and grow the business with existing customers. As part of this work, Katie drives market/channel strategy, product pipeline development, brand building and Bowery’s go-to-market playbook. Central to Bowery’s mission is creating an enduring brand that democratizes access to high quality, safe and delicious produce grown in a more sustainable way. In support of this objective, Katie also leads Bowery’s public policy and community impact work. She co-founded aGirlculture, a women’s development network at Bowery and serves as the group’s executive sponsor. Previously, Katie spent 14 years at Starbucks, where she held a variety of senior leadership roles within brand, marketing and product. She has driven successful brand campaigns, developed complex go-to-market strategies and integrated marketing campaigns, and led product innovation. In these roles she was a member of Starbucks’ U.S. Leadership Team. Most recently, Katie served as Senior Vice President of Siren Retail Operations where she helped lead the company’s efforts to re-imagine the coffee retail experience with the launch of Starbucks Reserve Roasteries, including market launches in Shanghai, Milan, New York City and Tokyo.

She leads agricultural research at Bowery and is focused on developing highly productive and great tasting products. In her role, her impact can be seen through her work to optimize the growing environment recipes and indoor growing conditions for each Bowery product. MacIsaac works day-in and day-out to aid Bowery in its mission to grow abundantly delicious food, without abundant harm, leveraging the power of technology and human ingenuity to grow better food for a better future. She developed a program of research to screen commercially available cultivars and to develop new cultivars that are designed for indoor growing systems. Before working at Bowery, MacIsaac worked at Monsanto Company for 17 years, leading scientists and engineers in the development and deployment of imaging and sensing technologies for crop phenotyping. More recently, MacIsaac worked as the Discovery Science Lead at the Climate Corporation where she led the Discovery Sciences team and developed a program of research to advance digital product concepts related to seeding rate, seed selection and management of corn and soybean. She also led the expansion of premium science digital products into South America and Europe. MacIsaac received a B.S. in Biology and M.S. in Biology, both from the University of Saskatchewan, and has a Ph.D. in Plant Physiology from the University of Guelph.

She leverages her passion for environmentally based agriculture and green technology to tackle human challenges and climate change through sustainable farming and technology research and development initiatives. Shannon started Brick Street Farms in 2016 with the vision of creating a food system that truly brings food production to the point of consumption. Unable to find container farms that produced high enough yields to keep up with demand, Shannon, along with her team members, designed her own containers, THRIVE Containers. Shannon is unique in the world of urban farming as the founder of the first of its kind in the world- Brick Street Farms Urban Hubs- where the retail component is added for direct to consumer shopping. Shannon’s commitment to tackling human food challenges is evident through her 501c3 Desert Farms Foundation. The foundation will work towards helping to end food deserts and food insecurities.

Prior to joining CU UK he was engaged in benthic invertebrate identification and biomass work with the National Oceanographic Centre, Southampton, United Kingdom and data compilation for Antarctic fauna with the British Antarctic Survey. Fluent in English, French, Spanish and German Henry joined the CU UK team in 2017 as a Fisheries Officer and progressed to Fisheries Assessment Manager in 2019.

Dave is bringing innovative indoor growing technologies to market globally to grow commercial scale amounts of delicious fresh produce with the CubicFarm System and fresh livestock feed with the HydroGreen Grow System. Dave believes that automated indoor modular technology empowers farmers to localize plant, food, and fresh livestock feed production while protecting our people, resources, and economy. The HydroGreen Grow System won the Nexus Innovative Technologies award in 2021, selected by dairy farmers, and university research has confirmed HydroGreen lowers GHG emissions. CubicFarms has been recognized in Fast Company’s 2021 World Changing Ideas Awards with an honourable mention in the Best World Changing Ideas – North America category. A seasoned CEO, Dave founded venture capital and consulting firm WideOcean Strategies, a boutique venture capital and consulting firm in 2015 after Goldman Sachs acquired his first startup BackCheck, founded in 1997. Dave took BackCheck from a startup to the largest background screening company in Canada and a leader in the UK, serving 15,000 corporate customers and screening millions of people globally. Dave also serves on several for profit and non-profit boards.

Previously at Equilibrium, Nick was a member of the product development team, where he helped lead the research and development and launch of the firm’s controlled environment strategy. Prior to Equilibrium, Nick focused his efforts on controlled environment agriculture, renewable energy, and surviving two years as an amateur rugby player. Prior to that, Nick’s career was in Asia, where he established the Thomson Reuters Government business unit in China and worked extensively on Chinese and Mongolian municipal finances and land reform policy. This work included managing the development and rollout of a digital land titling system for Mongolia (under the aegis of the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation). Earlier in his career, Nick managed the China program for the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (an independent urban development think tank), where he advised the Chinese government on property taxation, sustainable cities, and rural land reform. Nick also served as interpreter for a Sino-British documentary on Beijing’s Forbidden City. Nick has a M.A. in International Affairs and a bachelor’s degree from American University. He joined Equilibrium after completing his MBA at Northwestern University. He also speaks and reads fluent Mandarin Chinese. When not building Equilibrium’s presence in the greenhouse sector, Nick enjoys building things with his hands and continuing the family legacy of carpentry.

Tom helped initiate and develop numerous projects for innovative urban agriculture showcases in the US, CH, DE and the Benelux and has a MSc. in environmental policy from the Bard Graduate Center for Sustainablity, New York. He is the co-founder and the secretary-general of the FarmTech Society based in Brussels after many years being part of the expert networks and policy development working groups in the US and the EU.

In 2014 Sumanta co-founded WaveOptics, a deep-tech startup in the then-nascent Augmented Reality space. Sumanta led the company from inception and through C round fundraising as CEO. With WaveOptics in good shape, Sumanta was able to take on a new challenge to establish Gardin. WaveOptics was acquired for over half a billion dollars in May 2021 by Snap inc. Gardin was formed in January 2020. In November of the same year, Gardin went on to successfully conclude its initial venture capital fundraising round.

Prior to joining Gardin Fabrizio worked at Synthace, a UK software company focusing on helping Pharma and AgTech companies digitise and automate their R&D processes. There he was responsible for delivering digitisation and automation campaigns for clients such as Syngenta, Genentech, GSK and Astrazeneca. Fabrizio’s background is in AgTech and Plant Science and he holds joint BSc. And MSc. degrees in Plant Biotechnology from the University of Pisa and the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies of Pisa. He has a PhD in Plant Science from the University of Cambridge, where he used imaging techniques and genetic tools to study the relationship between environmental conditions, phytohormones and plant growth. Before his PhD Fabrizio worked at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology in Potsdam, Germany. There he was involved in a variety of projects, ranging from designing innovative FRET biosensors, to investigating the links between diurnal cycles and primary metabolism in plants.

Over the past years Hort Americas has had a special focus on horticultural lighting, hydroponics substrate and nutrient management making them one of the leading resources for greenhouse and vertically farmed vegetable growers. He is also owner of UrbanAgNews.com (online education content provider) and was a founding partner of the Foundation for the Development of Controlled Environment Agriculture and the International Congress on Controlled Environment Agriculture in Panama. With over 20 years of industry experience, Chris is dedicated to the commercial horticulture industry and is inspired by the current opportunities for continued innovation in the field of controlled environment agriculture. Chris is a leader in providing technical assistance to businesses, including commercial greenhouse operations, state-of-the-art hydroponic vegetable facilities, vertical farms, and tissue culture laboratories. In his role at Hort Americas he works with seed companies, manufacturers of horticultural supplies and equipment, growers and universities regarding the development of projects, new products and ultimately the creation of brands. Chris’ role includes everything from sales and marketing to technical support and general management/owner responsibilities.

He is a seasoned technology entrepreneur, with a track record of driving shareholder value, based upon building an empowering, collaborative Culture as a Platform for growth. Most recently he was CEO of global SaaS vendor Workplace, leading the team through a hugely successful turnaround, transformation, growth and exit delivering a double-digit money multiple return in less than 3 years. In the past 27 years he has completed almost 30 transactions as a founder/CEO, angel investor and board director, including risk capital investments (PE, VC and angel), acquisitions and trade sales in Europe, North America and Asia.

For the past few years she has been leading the agenda for new innovations and development of Urban farming solutions for Ingka group including exploration, tests and implementation of pilot projects. She has together with a her team led the whole process from ideation to execution in a retail environment. Sara is passionate about bringing sustainable solutions to live and contribute to creating a better world for both people and the planet.

Daniel is a retail, food services, and gastronomy sales-expert with a strong startup and entrepreneurship affinity. Being a business pro (MBA) and having gathered tech and nutrition experience at Foodora (Rocket Internet), Daniel is currently leading the commercial activities at Infarm, ready to revolutionize where, what and how we eat. His client portfolio includes: Kroger in the USA; Sobeys, Safeway and Thrifty Foods in Canada; Marks and Spencer, Whole Foods, Selfridges, and Budgens in the UK; Edeka AG, Aldi Süd, Kaufland, Metro AG, Bünting Ag (Combi and Famila), Selgros, Globus, REWE Group, Dohle (HIT), and Markant in Germany; arrefour, Auchan, Intermarche, Casino Group, Monoprix, System U in France; as well as Migros (Switzerland), Coop and IRMA (Denmark), Albert Heijn (Netherlands), and Kinokuniya and Summit in Japan. Online clients also include Farmdrop (UK), Amazon Fresh (DE), Flink (DE), Gorillas (DE, UK, NL), Farmy (CH), and Mon Marche (FR).

After studying the global food industry and engaging in multinational projects of global organisations, she joined a private research/consulting institute in Tokyo as a researcher specialising in the technology advancement for global food production systems. She has been conducting international field research on the Vertical Farming / Controlled Environment Agriculture industry since 2008, and has published numerous research papers. She has been a research project manager for a national project on artificial intelligence- a phenotyping- based smart plant factory system for environmental control and breeding. Since 2015, she has joined the Japan Plant Factory Association. She is also the chief executive officer of E*Green Lab Inc.

He focuses on the implementation of innovation processes, sustainable new food concepts and product innovations as well as corporate venturing activities. NX-Food stands for Next Generation Food. Our recipe: Expertise, Network and Implementation. NX-Food advises METRO and its partners on the implementation of innovation processes, sustainable food concepts, technology and product innovations as well as corporate venturing activities. Their wide array of strategic cooperations and a network of founders, culinary & scientific experts, customers, investors and corporates make NX-Food the hub for the future of food – as well for established food companies as for startups. More info at nx-food.com

She conducts research to study nutrition and flavor of space-grown crops, supports science in a variety of space station hardware, and works with external investigators. She is active in education and outreach programs related to plants in space. She has a BS in Plant Science from Cornell, a PhD in Plant Biology from Penn State, and postdoctoral research from Purdue and Kennedy Space Center. She has worked in the areas of plant space biology and bioregenerative life support.

He has extensive experience in plant production and equipment design, and drives Plenty’s ground-breaking plant science to deliver industry leading yields of delicious fresh fruits and vegetables. Prior to Plenty, he founded Bright Agrotech, an agriculture company that created hardware, software and services to advance the indoor and vertical agriculture industries. Nate received his Ph.D. in Agronomy from the University of Wyoming with an emphasis in vertical plane hydroponic production. He also received his Bachelor’s and Masters of Science degrees in Agriculture Science from the University of Wyoming.

She covers the international fresh fruit and vegetable sectors and published numerous articles and reports on various topics including vertical farming, the Dutch glasshouse sector, and sustainability. Indoor farming is one of her key focus areas. She is covering the complete supply chain from grower to consumer and has engaged with various stakeholders along the supply chain. Cindy has been a keynote speaker at several international fresh produce events such as Greentech, Fruit Logistica, PMA, the Urban Greenhouse Challenge, Future of Food. Her research and analyses are key deliverables for Rabobank customers and prospects, both in the corporate and rural domains.

As Managing Director, Sanjeev is active in developing investments and managing portfolio companies as well as serving on many portfolio company boards. His portfolio work ranges from genetics, crop protection, soil health, digital/IOT, crop insurance, merchandising, indoor agriculture, novel flavour and ingredients, new protein development, unique processors and brands that will feed the changing consumer. He is passionate about the role of innovation, entrepreneurship, markets and system investing as a theory of change. Sanjeev has worked in the intersection of sustainability, technology and health in many regions, including Europe, Africa, Asia and North America. He has invested over $500 mm in venture and growth stage firms throughout his career. Sanjeev began investing as a co-founder of the life sciences practice of the IFC, the $99 billion private investment arm of the World Bank. His previous investment roles include CLSA Capital Partners, Global Environment Fund, World Bank Group’s IFC and JPMorgan. Sanjeev is a graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science.

With a leadership background within marketing, communications and media industries, Andreas has a solid background in leading idea-driven organizations with ambitious purposes. After holding positions as executive officer at some large digital marketing and communications agencies in Sweden, he shifted focus into AgTech in early 2019, founding Swegreen together with partners. Holding an MBA in Strategy and Leadership, Andreas Dahlin now addresses all his passion to sustainable and true value-driven business. Swegreen has created an In-Store Vertical Farming platform which is taking hydroponic growing system to a hyper-locally applicable model into supermarkets and restaurants. With circular and super-efficient cultivation units – fully automated and AI-driven – Swegreen’s FaaS-concept also includes an innovative subscription-based business model.

He is also Communications Manager at The FarmTech Society, the Co-Founder of The Soya Project, and does freelance consulting work across the industry. In his work he has dealt extensively with industry standardisation, sustainability certification, vertical farming education and vertical farming policy. His expertise is in building networks and associations that maximise value for their members, and for the industry as a whole. Mark’s primary interest is in taking a systemic overview of how vertical farming can be integrated with other systems, to deliver on its promises of regenerative food production and resilient societies.

He obtained his PhD in Plant Biotechnology and did his Post-Doctoral research in Indian Institute of Scince, Bangalore, India; and in University of Delaware, USA. He also did various courses from NALSAR, Indian School of Busines, Indian Institute of Management - Bangalore, Stanford, and Harvard Universities. He is the Co-Founder of Urbankisaan, a vertical farmning company, and currently he is leading the R&D and production oprations. Urbankisaan is specialized in growing Indian vegetables in Hydroponics and focussed primarily on decentralized micro-vertical farms attached to retail outlets. Urbankisaan is listed in the top 10 most influential projects in India for the year 2020 by Project Management Institute. Recently Urbankisaan was also awarded “Start-up of the Year 2021” by Economic Times."

At STK, Elitzur led the company to successful geographical expansion and fundraising of $90 million in return for a majority stake. Prior to this, Guy served private and public companies in senior executive roles. He is a licensed CPA and earned his L.L.M. from Bar-Ilan University.

Vertical Future’s mission is to improve health in cities through building a better, smarter, more sustainable food production and supply system. The company currently has its own, cutting-edge technology solutions in most major areas of controlled-environment-agriculture, multiple production sites across London, and a food brand that services more than 100 restaurants. Prior to setting up Vertical Future, Jamie worked in the Life Sciences team at EY following a secondment at the Department of Health. He holds a Master’s in Energy, Trade, and Finance; a Bachelor’s in business economics; and in 2020 is due to submit his PhD in Health Economics. Earlier in his career, Jamie spent 4 years in the United States Air Force, including several years at the USAF Academy, graduating from the Leadership Enrichment and Development Programme.

Today, YesHealth Group is one of the world’s largest vertical farming companies by production volume. Jesper Hansen is Chief Commercial Officer of YesHealth Group. Jesper received his M.A. in Chinese Studies from the University of Copenhagen, University of California, and Zhejiang University. He has extensive experience with development of vertical farming projects and has implemented several large scale vertical farms in Asia and Europe.