James Bertram is Client Manager for Rijk Zwaan, supporting growers across New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, and crop specialist for the Australian and NZ high-tech horticulture industry. With experience across the fresh produce value chain — from growers to retail and market partners — James brings practical insight into the challenges and opportunities facing growers. His expertise spans product development, lifecycle management, supply logistics and biosecurity compliance.

Rick Butler, 6th generation bunching vegetable and herb grower. Traditionally a field grower for 30 years, has added protected cropping farming over the last 10 years. Has 4500 square meters of herbs grown in Victoria and Queensland.

James Currie is the Co-Founder of FTEK Limited, a company he established alongside his brother nearly 20 years ago. Combining a "Number 8 wire" ingenuity with a deep, practical understanding built from two decades of hands-on product evolution inside the greenhouse. By working directly alongside growers, James and his brother have dared to think differently, creating the field-matured solutions that help solve today’s labor challenges.

Alastair is the Regional Business Development Manager for DENSO and Director at Protected Cropping Australia. He is currently focused on delivering new high-tech greenhouse projects to the ANZ markets. DENSO utilise his commercial and technical expertise to explore new business opportunities that can benefit from the company’s advanced technologies and innovations. Alastair was voted into the PCA Board of Directors in 2025 and is aiming to use this position to enhance grower capabilities in technology adoption and encourage new people into the industry.

Being born in a greenhouse family in the Netherlands, Ton has been active in Protected Horticulture his whole life. He is working for Svensson as a greenhouse climate expert, offering customized advice to growers, horticultural consultants, climate screen installers, and greenhouse builders, to achieve the most favorable, sustainable and ‘active’ growth conditions in greenhouses all over the world.

Steffen Kraushaar is a business and market development leader in the protected cropping industry. He currently works with Bayer’s De Ruiter and Seminis portfolios, focusing on high-tech glasshouse crops including tomatoes, cucumbers, capsicums across Australia. With a strong background in agronomy and operations, Steffen combines deep technical expertise with commercial strategy, supporting growers through variety selection, trial programs, and the adoption of disease-resistant genetics such as ToBRFV-resistant tomatoes. He has previously led operations in large-scale greenhouse environments and is known for translating data and innovation into practical, profitable outcomes for growers. Steffen is passionate about advancing protected cropping, strengthening industry partnerships, and driving mix-led growth through new product launches. Outside of work, he enjoys outdoor sports, travel, and exploring new business opportunities.

Zen Kynigos is an agriculturalist and zoologist specialising in plant physiology, root-zone biology, and nutrient efficiency. He works closely with growers and agronomists across Australia in hydroponic and protected cropping systems, focusing on how plants absorb, transport, and utilise nutrients under real-world conditions. His work centres on cellular-level plant behaviour, including stress responses, calcium uptake and nitrogen metabolism. Zen translates complex science into practical on-farm strategies. 

Dr Stephanus Malherbe holds degrees in microbiology and agronomy with a background in soil microbiology and integrated pest management (IPM). After nine years managing a soil microbiology laboratory for South Africa’s largest open field tomato producer, he relocated to Australia in 2015 to join Biological Services in South Australia as an IPM Consultant and Team Leader. During his time in Virginia (South Australia), he encountered both the best and the worst of IPM within a highly demanding pest environment. In his current role at Biological Services he evaluates new products and technologies from the BioFirst Group for the Australian market, with a focus on high tech crop monitoring, biopesticides, and industry training through the Biobest Academy. 

Nicky Mann, a long-time leader in protected cropping with experience spanning roses, substrate-grown berries and intensive high-tech greenhouse production of Qukes®. She began in 1995 in Zimbabwe producing export roses, moved to Australia in 2002, and later pivoted into hydroponic berries and a range of crop trials. A 2014 Australian Nuffield Farming Scholar and Fellow of the Worshipful Company of Farmers’ Challenge of Rural Leadership, Nicky has consulted internationally across China, Mexico and New Zealand. Since 2018 she has been Labour & WHS Manager at Family Fresh Farms, helping build a values-led, high-performance glasshouse culture. She also served as Chair of Protected Cropping Australia from 2017 to 2022, and completed her MHRM and MBA with distinction in 2025. 

Kelli McDougall is a specialist agribusiness talent strategist with more than 20 years’ experience helping organisations solve one of their biggest commercial risks — people.As Managing Director of Agri Talent, Kelli partners with progressive agriculture businesses across Australia to design and deliver high-performance workforce strategies. Her work spans executive search, succession planning, organisational design and long-term retention frameworks — with a clear focus on productivity, stability and bottom-line impact.Having built and scaled her own HR and recruitment businesses for over 15 years, Kelli understands firsthand the commercial realities facing business owners — labour pressure, margin compression, growth planning and leadership gaps. She has led national searches at C-suite and operational levels, and is known for challenging traditional hiring approaches in favour of strategic, future-focused workforce planning.Raised in agriculture and now working exclusively within the sector, Kelli brings a practical understanding of regional workforce dynamics and the evolving expectations of today’s talent market. She works closely with controlled-environment and intensive agriculture businesses to shift them from reactive hiring cycles to structured attraction, retention and succession strategies.Her core belief: if you can grow high-value crops with precision, you can build high-value teams with the same intent.

Jonathan has over 15 years global experience in assisting companies access various government incentives. During this time, he has managed engagements across a range of industries including agriculture, manufacturing, technology and energy. Jonathan is committed to helping his clients with strategic innovation projects and maximising the amount of government funding they are eligible to receive from both R&D tax incentives and grants. He has assisted with a vast number of R&D Tax Incentive claims and identified further funding opportunities for his clientsJonathan is passionate about sustainability and has assisted numerous clients apply for and receive government grants to further their production capability in a sustainable manner. This has provided unique insights into the attributes of bid strategies of successful applications to government for innovative projects.