CropLife Europe Annual Conference

Sponsors

Delivering sustainable
agriculture solutions

Programme

*to see the biographies of the speakers, click on their title

Day 1: Tuesday, 7 March

10:00

Opening statement

Speech
Olivier de Matos
Olivier de Matos is the Director General of CropLife Europe. Prior to CropLife Europe he was the Secretary General at ECETOC, the European Centre for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology of Chemicals, where he spent 4 years leading the association and promoting its scientific programme activities and initiatives. Before that he held various leadership positions at Burson-Marsteller (now BCW) where he worked for more than 15 years.

10:05

Keynote speech – Inspiring Sustainable Agriculture: Pathway to the future​

Speech
Sue Garrard
Sue is one of the world’s leading experts in developing sustainability strategy in major companies, aligning it with business objectives, and embedding it across the business. Until autumn 2018 she was EVP Sustainable Business and Communications at Unilever where she was responsible for leading and embedding the company’s ambitious Sustainable Living Plan into the business and ensuring delivery against its 70-plus time bound targets. In particular, Sue was responsible for establishing sustainability as a driver of brand growth. By the end of 2018 Unilever’s ‘Sustainable Living Brands’ were growing 67% faster than its other brands and represented 70% of the company’s growth. In November 2020 Forbes magazine placed Sue 13th in a list of the top 100 women sustainability influencers worldwide. Sue is working with major clients such as NatWest Bank, Mars, Primark and Danone. Highly applied and commercial in her approach, she’s both hard hitting and entertaining as a speaker.

10:40

Session 1

Digital & Precision Agriculture: realising potential for sustainable agriculture solutions

  • Sycamore Ballroom
Moderator
Jacki Davis
Jacki Davis is a leading commentator and analyst on European Union affairs. She is an experienced journalist, speaker and moderator of high-level events; a regular broadcaster on television and radio news; and a Senior Adviser to the Brussels-based think tank, the European Policy Centre. She has been based in Brussels for nearly 30 years, and was previously the EPC’s Communications Director; editor-in-chief of E!Sharp, a magazine on EU affairs; launch editor of European Voice, a Brussels-based newspaper on EU affairs owned by The Economist Group, from 1995-2000 (now Politico); and Brussels correspondent of a British national newspaper.
Speaker + Panelist
Doris Marquardt
Dr. Doris Marquardt works for the European Commission, in the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development since July 2019 focussing on Research and Innovation, on the digitalisation of the agricultural sector and rural areas and policy systems, in particular. She completed her PhD in agricultural policies at the Martin-Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg, Germany and holds a diploma (Msc) in Environmental Planning from the Technical University of Munich, Weihenstephan. She held positions at the European Environment Agency, the German Permanent Representation, the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the European Network for Rural Development Contact Point, the Germany-based Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Development in Central and Eastern Europe, the Center of Rural Economy in Newcastle, United Kingdom, and the European Academy in Bolzano, Italy. She has experiences in the implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy in several EU Member States, including Romania, Italy and Germany. She served as expert in policy design, agriculture, and rural and regional development in the wider European region in projects commissioned by, e.g. the World Bank, UNEP and FAO.
Martyn Griffiths
Dr. Griffiths graduated from University of Newcastle Upon Tyne and obtained his doctorate in field of liquid fertilisers from Harper Adams College. His involvement in crop protection started over 30 years ago with Schering. After 5 years of field development experience, he moved to Frankfurt, Germany with AgrEvo, where he held a number of positions including responsibility for registrations in China, Taiwan and Korea. With the formation of Bayer CropScience, he has worked in the European Regulatory Affairs team in Lyon, France and his current position is Senior Regulatory Scientific Affairs Manager in EMEA Regulatory Science. He is chairman of the CropLife EU Digital Committee, and a member of the Digital Label Compliance team.
Patrick Pagani
Mr. Patrick Pagani is Italian and studied European Law at the University of Rome. After early experiences in the Food Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and DG Agriculture of the European Commission he has worked for several years in the European sugar beet sector on sustainability, agriculture and innovation matters in close link with the farming community. Mr. Patrick Pagani is currently Deputy Secretary General of Copa and Cogeca from 1st of February 2024. He is responsible for its office leadership and giving direction and clarity to its strategic and policy development. Previously, as Lead Coordinator, he was responsible for policy coordination within Copa-Cogeca. Among other files he has been developing the organization stance on Farm to Fork, Fit for 55 and food security. He is also in charge of the Agriculture Technology work with the Secretariat aiming to make the farming sector one of the frontrunners in the data-driven economy and in developing new technologies for better resource efficiency, improving, and modernising the agriculture sector in the path towards more sustainability.
Panelist
Jelte Wiersma
Mr. Jelte Wiersma is the Secretary General of CEMA – the European Association representing the Agricultural Machinery manufacturers in Europe. CEMA’s members are 11 National Associations and the biggest seven tractor manufacturers in Europe. Mr. Wiersma, a Dutch national, worked since 2014 as EU-correspondent for the leading Dutch weekly, covering on European affairs, including agriculture, and agri-food-related issues. He is one of the founding members of the Holland House in Brussels.
Opening presentation

11:40

Coffee Break

12:05

Breakout 1

Precision agriculture means precision risk assessment

  • Willow Room
Moderator
Joachim Dressel
Joachim Dressel studied agricultural sciences at the universities of Bonn and Stuttgart-Hohenheim. He worked on the leaching of herbicides through field soil at the Research Center Jülich to obtain a PhD at the University of Bonn. Subsequently he worked on environmental fate modeling and monitoring of pesticides at BASF and as a consultant, then as European regulatory manager at Syngenta. Currently he works as Precision Application & Digital Agriculture Regulatory Lead at Syngenta.
Speaker + Panelist
Steven Droge
Steven Droge obtained his BSc Biology at the University of Amsterdam, focusing his MSc on aquatic and terrestrial ecotoxicology. Since his PhD work at the Institute for Risk Assessment sciences at the Utrecht University he has been studying the environmental fate of surfactants (soap ingredients) during several academic projects, related to their chemical analysis, sorptive behaviour, degradability, bioavailability in toxicity testing, fish biotransformation capacities, and bioaccumulation potential. This work was performed at the Helmholtz Research Institute in Leipzig, Utrecht University, and again the University of Amsterdam, in most cases funded by European chemical industry consortia. During 2020 and 2021, he worked at the Ecotox Assessment team of the Dutch board for authorization of Plant Protection Products (Ctgb). His switch in 2022 to the Wageningen Environmental Research team Environmental Risk Assessment, provided new research opportunities with terrestrial non-target arthropods and precision agriculture.
Michael Faupel
I studied biology at the University of Bielefeld and received my PhD on an ecotoxicology topic in 2012. In the same year, I started as a consultant and regulatory ecotoxicologist at RIFCON. From 2014 – 2018, I was leading the ecotoxicology team. From 2018, I was responsible for the Chemistry, Environment and Human Safety teams and am currently Deputy Head of Regulatory Strategies at RIFCON. Since 2019, I have been working with colleagues on the precision application of agrochemicals and their impact on registration, environmental and human safety and the corresponding risk assessments.

Breakout 2

Case studies showing how digital solutions support sustainable agriculture practices

  • Sycamore Ballroom
Moderator
Jacki Davis
Jacki Davis is a leading commentator and analyst on European Union affairs. She is an experienced journalist, speaker and moderator of high-level events; a regular broadcaster on television and radio news; and a Senior Adviser to the Brussels-based think tank, the European Policy Centre. She has been based in Brussels for nearly 30 years, and was previously the EPC’s Communications Director; editor-in-chief of E!Sharp, a magazine on EU affairs; launch editor of European Voice, a Brussels-based newspaper on EU affairs owned by The Economist Group, from 1995-2000 (now Politico); and Brussels correspondent of a British national newspaper.
Speaker
Jens-Erik Jensen
Jens Erik Jensen is a senior specialist. He has a Ph.D degree in weed science and a M.Sc. in agronomy. He specializes in weed management, is an IPM generalist and has been working for SEGES Innovation since 2000. He is responsible for the Danish pesticide database Middeldatabasen.dk and participates in various Danish IPM projects as well as EU projects. SEGES Innovation carries out research and knowledge dissemination and works closely with local agricultural advisory centres in Denmark. We develop software solutions for farmers and advisers. More generally we offer solutions for the agriculture and food sector of tomorrow. We develop business opportunities in close partnerships with our customers, research institutions and companies worldwide.
Jo Ottenheim
Jo Ottenheim studied crop protection at the Wageningen University. After graduation he started working for the Dutch farmers union and was for many years secretary of the crop protection board of LTO and connected to the phytosanitary working group of Copa-Cogeca. In 2006 he started working for Nefyto, the Dutch crop protection association. Nefyto changed its name in 2022 and is now called CropLife NL. Within the association he covers a broad spectrum of subjects as minor uses, biological products and biostimulants, E-stewardship and E-labelling, container management, closed transfer system and anti-counterfeit. Due to his long involvement with the subject he has a large network in Dutch agriculture.

12:50

Lunch

14:10

Breakout 3

Re-imagining Europe’s food system

  • Willow Room
Moderator
Jacki Davis
Jacki Davis is a leading commentator and analyst on European Union affairs. She is an experienced journalist, speaker and moderator of high-level events; a regular broadcaster on television and radio news; and a Senior Adviser to the Brussels-based think tank, the European Policy Centre. She has been based in Brussels for nearly 30 years, and was previously the EPC’s Communications Director; editor-in-chief of E!Sharp, a magazine on EU affairs; launch editor of European Voice, a Brussels-based newspaper on EU affairs owned by The Economist Group, from 1995-2000 (now Politico); and Brussels correspondent of a British national newspaper.
Panelist
Alexandra Nikolakopoulou
Alexandra Nikolakopoulou is Head of Unit, Farm to Fork, at the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE). She has steered and coordinated work leading to the adoption of the EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy in 2020. Under her leadership, the Unit coordinates the implementation of the Farm to Fork Strategy and is in charge of some of its main initiatives, such as the general framework for sustainable food systems, the Code of Conduct on sustainable food practices, the monitoring of the strategy and actions related to the reduction of food waste. Throughout her career in DG SANTE, she has been dealing with issues relating to food labelling and general food law, biotechnology, health claims, food supplements and foods for specific groups. Alexandra joined the European Commission as an official in 2003. She previously worked as food law advisor at EuroCommerce. Prior to that, she spent 3 years at the legal Unit of the former Consumer Protection Directorate General of the European Commission. She graduated in law at the University of Athens and completed a DEA in European law at the University of Toulouse.
Robert Hunter
Robert’s dedication to the agricultural sector was firmly grounded early in life as a 5th generation family farmer in Elmvale, Canada. Over the years Robert has developed a passion to be an advocate for agriculture, for farmers and the rural communities they support. After Robert left the farm, he has worked in industry positions based in China, Canada, Belgium and the United States. In these international experiences Robert has learned the landscape of global agriculture and implemented business strategies where farmers, industry, academia, NGO’s and governments have all played a vital role. Robert is currently Chief Operating Officer for CropLife International, supporting the plant science R&D companies in their mission to advance innovation in agriculture to enable sustainable food systems. Robert holds a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from the University of Guelph. He currently lives in Washington, DC.
David Coleman
David Coleman joined Mars in July 2015 as Vice President, Public Affairs Europe. As a member of the Mars Public Affairs Leadership Team, he leads the Brussels-based Government Relations Service Center team. In this capacity, he leads, directs and/or supports the approach to the EU Institutions for Mars generally and specifically on issues relevant to one or more of the business segments that are part of Mars (e.g. Pet Care, Confectionary, Food). Mr. Coleman has 20 years experience representing business at an EU level, 15 years of which have been for industry-leading food and food service companies. His areas of focus range from -among others – consumer information systems through to sustainability issues, led by a desire to create mutual outcomes with stakeholders through corporate diplomacy. David holds a degree in Law and a Postgraduate Masters degree in EU Law and was a Blue Book Trainee in the Cabinet of Commissioner for Public Health and Consumer Protection David Byrne. He is an Irish national, educated in both Ireland and France.

Breakout 4

The development of the crop protection and seed market in Europe and beyond

  • Sycamore Ballroom
Moderator
Ian Wheals
Ian Wheals studied chemistry at the University of Birmingham in the UK before joining ICI Agrochemicals Environmental Science department at their Jealotts Hill Research Station as a residue chemist. He transferred to the European registration team as the EU embarked on its first attempt at a harmonised regulatory system under Directive 91/414/EC. After a US registration role in Zeneca Agrochemicals, he transferred to Basel, Switzerland as global regulatory non-selective herbicide team lead at the formation of Syngenta in November 2000. He returned to an EU registration role in 2006, as insecticide team lead, as the second iteration of the EU regulatory system, Regulation 1107/2009, was being framed. Ian is now Head of Regulatory Policy EAME at Syngenta Crop Protection, based in Basel, Switzerland and chairs the Crop Protection Regulatory Policy Team in CropLife Europe.
Speaker
Allister Phillips
Allister Phillips is a founding partner of AgbioInvestor, consultants and analysists covering crop protection, seed & traits and agricultural commodities. Allister began his career as an analyst at Phillips McDougall in 1999 while also studying for an Honours degree in biotechnology. He progressed into a Senior Analyst position, specialising in the commercial seed industry, specifically GM seeds. At AgbioInvestor, Allister provides data, insight and opinion to the leading global crop protection and seed companies through AgbioInvestor’s bespoke subscription services, which covers conventional crop protection, biological crop protection, seeds, crop production and commodity analysis. The company has also developed a free-to-access GM seed data platform, GM Monitor, to provide a resource for GM crop cultivation information. In recent years Allister has taken a keen interest in agricultural commodities, as crop production, trade and ending stocks have a profound impact on agricultural input prices and crop demand.
Derek Oliphant
Derek Oliphant is a founding partner at AgbioInvestor, the industry’s leading crop protection and seeds & traits market intelligence company. He began his career at Phillips McDougall, advancing to the position of Senior Analyst before leaving to establish AgbioInvestor in 2017. Derek has over 15 years of experience in crop protection market analysis and is the key contributor to the AgbioCrop report, the industry’s foremast source of detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis on the global crop protection market, examining company performance, crop and country markets, and product-level trends.

14:55

Coffee Break

15:20

Session 2

SUR – opportunities to support Farm 2 Fork

  • Sycamore Ballroom
Moderator
Mark Titterington
Mark has enjoyed a long career in the agri-food sector having previously worked at the United Nations and for Syngenta where he held a number of senior leadership positions in corporate affairs and business sustainability in the EAME region and globally. After leaving Syngenta in 2017, Mark became Chief Executive of EngineeringUK, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to inspiring and nurturing STEM skills in young people. Mark later became Head of Marketing and Public Affairs for Indigo Agriculture Europe GmbH. Mark is a co-founder and senior adviser to the Forum for the Future of Agriculture and a Senior Fellow at the Transatlantic Policy Network.
Speaker
Max Schulman
Max, born 14.03.1966, grew up on his family’s farm which he took over in 1986. Stor-Tötar Gård, is an old family farm that combines arable land and forestry in South Western Finland that has been in the family for around 400 years. Continuity that hopefully will go forward since Max is raising three boys together with his Spanish wife Marta. Before taking over the full responsibility of running the farm and having taken a degree in agricultural economics, he became a grain trader for the Finnish Grain Board. After that Max worked in the agricultural machinery sector from 2003 until 2008. This job took him all over the world from America to China. For the last 15 years he has been working in the Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners (MTK) as the Advisor for cereals, oilseeds and protein crops. Max was Chairman 2013–2019 of the Cereals Working Group in Copa-Cogeca based in Brussels. He is a member of the EU Arable Crops Market Observatory and 2018-20 Chairman of the Civil Dialogue Group, Arable Crops. From 2020 –. Owner of Farm-XPort Ltd, grain trading company for special consignments. Co-founder and member of the board of Grain Sense Ltd, the portable protein and quality analyzer for grains. Chairman of VYR the Finnish Grain Committee, 2018 – 2021. Chair of the Agri Food Chain Round Table on PPP 2020 – and vice chairman of the Copa Cogeca Phytosanitary WG from 2021-, vice chairman of the Seeds WG 2023.
Alexander Bernhuber
As a committed European, I grew up on a farm in Austria. This is the reason why the future of our rural regions and communities is particularly important to me. No matter whether it is on local, national or European level: In the European Parliament I want to shape the future for our next generations. Since I am a farmer, I am used to hard work. Furthermore, I have learned to appreciate principles such as family cohesion, homeland solidarity as well as a down-to-earth attitude. This is why I believe that politics need more common sense and a direct connection to the European citizens in order to improve our lives and home countries.
Sebastian Żwan
Attaché in Permanent Representation of Poland to the EU responsible for plant health, phytosanitary issues, GMO & NBT and food safety. Polish civil servant trained at National School of Public Administration with an experience of working in Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration. Graduated from law studies at the University of Warsaw having specialised in EU law.
Panelist
Alina Cretu
Alina Crețu is an agronomist engineer and holds the position of Executive Director of the FORUM OF PROFESSIONAL FARMERS AND PROCESSORS from ROMANIA: APPR FORUM. APPR FORUM is a national Romanian organization of farmers and is part of the ALLIANCE FOR AGRICULTURE AND COOPERATION (a member of Copa-Cogeca) and member of CEPM. The APPR Forum is one of the most consolidated farmers’ organizations at the national level and one of the first associations with a very active presence at the European and international level. Alina Cretu is responsible for the general management and administrative activities of this non-governmental professional structure (administrative, human resources, financial, legal). The construction of the first independent national network of applied research in the field – RITAC (owned and financed by farmers) represents for her a model of confirmed transparency, ethical practices recognized by local industry and political decision-makers. During her professional activities (for the last 18 years) she has been involved in various independent research projects. Her main field of scientific activities has been dedicated to providing technical and economic studies to various stakeholders to ensure balanced communication along the food chain, from production to consumer. In his previous professional positions she was president and legal representative of the Alliance for the Romanian Seed Industry. Also, Alina Crețu coordinated the marketing and development activities for a multinational company in the field of agribusiness at the national level for 10 years.
Anja Klatt
Dr Anja Klatt studied biology in Bochum and Tübingen and has a PhD in molecular biology. She started as a researcher in the pharmaceutical sector of BASF. Meanwhile Anja has more than 20 years of experience in the agriculture industry working in the area of public affairs covering the plant biotechnology and the crop protection field. She has been a member of various committees in EuropaBio and ECPA and is now chairing the team dealing with the Sustainable Use Directive in CropLife Europe.
Amalia Kafka
Amalia Kafka is agronomist by training. She graduated from Wageningen University in the Netherlands with a double MSc in Plant Science and Food Safety & Food Quality Management. She also holds an MSc in Plant Protection from the Agricultural University of Athens. After her studies, she worked as auditor for the certification of PDO and PGI products. Additionally, she participated in research projects of the European Food Safety Authority and the Catholic University of Italy. Within Euroseeds, Amalia is responsible of issues related to plant protection and more specifically, for their sustainable application to seeds through seed treatments technologies or during seed production.

16:20

Session 3

Green Deal: A blueprint for sustainability

  • Sycamore Ballroom
Moderator
Jacki Davis
Jacki Davis is a leading commentator and analyst on European Union affairs. She is an experienced journalist, speaker and moderator of high-level events; a regular broadcaster on television and radio news; and a Senior Adviser to the Brussels-based think tank, the European Policy Centre. She has been based in Brussels for nearly 30 years, and was previously the EPC’s Communications Director; editor-in-chief of E!Sharp, a magazine on EU affairs; launch editor of European Voice, a Brussels-based newspaper on EU affairs owned by The Economist Group, from 1995-2000 (now Politico); and Brussels correspondent of a British national newspaper.

Plant Biotechnology

Speaker
Petra Jorasch
Petra Jorasch holds a PhD in plant molecular biology from the University of Hamburg. She is an internationally recognized science, communication and industry advocacy expert with more than 20 years of experience in and a deep knowledge of the relevant policy frameworks for seeds, plant science and breeding, access and use of plant genetic resources as well as relevant intellectual property protection systems. Petra worked for 13 years in the German seed sector at the interface of science and industry, managing intellectual property rights, public-private partnerships and technology transfer. From 2014-2017 she was Vice Secretary General of the German Plant Breeders’ Association (BDP) and its research branch GFPi (German Federation for Plant innovation). Petra joined Euroseeds in February 2017 as the spokesperson of the EU plant breeding sector on modern plant breeding methods and innovative technologies.
Irene Sacristán Sánchez
Irene Sacristán Sánchez is head of unit for Biotechnology in the Directorate General Health and Food Safety of the European Commission. She joined the Commission in 2003, spending several years working on the development and negotiation of pharmaceutical legislation. Most recently, Irene was head of the policy development and legislative unit in the European Anti-Fraud Office. Before joining the Commission, she worked as a lawyer in Madrid.

Anti-counterfeit

Speaker
José Checa
José is currently the Brand Protection Manager for EMEA & LATAM for the agricultural sciences company FMC and is responsible for the implementation of strategies to fight the manufacturing and commercialization of illegal pesticides. Before joining FMC, José was the General Counsel Brand & Marketing Properties at Nestlé and responsible for overseeing the legal protection of Nestlé brands across all company businesses and geographies. Prior to Nestlé, he was IP Counsel EMEA for DuPont, where he held various responsibilities, including the legal protection of DuPont Danisco Nutrition & Health brands globally, and commercial and corporate legal support to Spain & Portugal. José also worked in international organizations such as the International Standards Organization (ISO) Central Secretariat and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), as well as for a Spanish and US law firms. José is a Spanish qualified lawyer with a Masters Degree in Intellectual Property from the University of Alicante (Spain) and a Postgraduate Diploma in EU Competition Law from King’s College London. José also specializes in mediation.

Taxonomy/Sustainable finance

Speaker

Speaker TBC

17:10

Session 4

What is the future for (European) trade?

  • Sycamore Ballroom
Moderator
Jacki Davis
Jacki Davis is a leading commentator and analyst on European Union affairs. She is an experienced journalist, speaker and moderator of high-level events; a regular broadcaster on television and radio news; and a Senior Adviser to the Brussels-based think tank, the European Policy Centre. She has been based in Brussels for nearly 30 years, and was previously the EPC’s Communications Director; editor-in-chief of E!Sharp, a magazine on EU affairs; launch editor of European Voice, a Brussels-based newspaper on EU affairs owned by The Economist Group, from 1995-2000 (now Politico); and Brussels correspondent of a British national newspaper.
Interviewee
Joanna Grainger
Joanna Grainger is Minister-Counsellor (Agriculture) representing the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry at the Australian Mission to the EU in Brussels, Belgium. Jo has 18 years public service experience in policy, regulation and programme management on trade, competition, consumer, industry and regional policy issues in the agriculture and telecommunications sectors. Prior to taking on her current trade role, Jo worked on a range of agriculture commodities including wool, dairy, wine, grains, cotton, poultry and horticulture and cross cutting issues including the dairy and horticulture codes of conduct and access to migrant labour for the agriculture sector.
John Clarke
John Clarke is the Director for International Relations at DG Agriculture in the European Commission. He is the EU’s chief agriculture negotiator in the WTO, G7/G20, as well as negotiating the EU’s Free Trade Agreements. John Clarke is also in charge of cooperation with Africa in the agrifood sphere. John was previously Head of the EU Delegation to the WTO and the UN in Geneva. He joined the European Commission in 1993 as a trade negotiator. From 1983 to 1993 John Clarke was an official of the Hong Kong Government, working in the team responsible for raising HK’s standard of living and bringing it to developed country status by the late 1980’s. John Clarke is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of International Trade Law and Regulation, and has published extensively on trade, political and cultural issues.

17:30

END

Attention the venue will change for the dinner and cocktail to Hotel Le Plaza Brussels - Adolphe Maxlaan 118/126, 1000 Brussel

18:00

Cocktail (Le Plaza Hotel)

19:00

Dinner (Le Plaza Hotel)

Day 2: Wednesday 8 March

09:00

Opening statement

Speech
Alexandra Brand
Alexandra Brand is the Chair of the Board of Directors at CropLife Europe. Alexandra has been involved in CropLife Europe’s work since 2016. She currently leads one of Syngenta Group’s largest businesses as the Crop Protection Regional Director for Europe, Africa and the Middle East. From 2018 – 2020, Alexandra Brand was Chief Sustainability Officer of the Syngenta Group where she led the newly created Business Sustainability Group to drive forward the company’s sustainability agenda. Before joining Syngenta, Alexandra held various positions in the BASF Group, including senior vice president of its global Animal Nutrition business unit, vice president of the Global Marketing Pharma Ingredients unit as well as chief of staff for BASF’s chief executive officer. Alexandra gained international experience through her role as director of BASF’s Sub Regional Operating Manager Intermediates in South Asia, with its headquarters in Mumbai, India. She began her professional career in global research at BASF. Alexandra studied chemistry at the Technische Universität in Darmstadt, Germany, from 1990 to 1998 and completed her studies with a doctorate.

09:10

Session 5

Access to sustainable crop protection solutions

  • Sycamore Ballroom
Moderator
Sylvia Plak
Sylvia is Registration and Regulatory Affairs Director at Sumitomo Chemical Agro Europe SAS, a position she has held since 2009. As she leads activities for both conventional and biocontrol plant protection products, Sylvia has gained a great deal of experience developing and registering all types of technologies. She is also member of the company Management Committee and is therefore deeply involved in other facets of company strategy and operations. During her career, she has been active for 35 years in regulatory and in industry associations at national, European and global level. She has been President for IBMA in 2019 & 2020.
Speaker
Eric Liégeois
Eric Liégeois is born in 1967, in Tournai (Belgium). In 1990, he was graduated Chemical Engineer for Agricultural Industries, from the University of Gembloux (Belgium). He joined for the European Commission as seconded national expert in 2002 at DG Environment where he was in charge of the Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides. In 2005 he took the position of Director (Risk Management Unit) at the Belgian Ministry of Public Health and the Environment, where his team of 45 persons was in charge of implementing REACH, CLP and Biocides. In June 2007 he decided to join again the European Commission as a permanent administrator official in the Chemicals Unit at DG ENTR (now DG GROW). At DG GROW these recent years he was in charge of revised Fertilisers Regulation Break-out group – Consideration of Risk Mitigation Measures in PPP evaluations proposal and manage for the Commission’s recently adopted Plastics Strategy. He was leading a team in charge of Fertilisers, Detergents, Plant Protection Products, Biocides, Waste recycling and Plastics. Since April 2018 he joined DG SANTE in the team in charge of the authorisation of plant protection products where he is among others chairing the biopesticides working group and is focusing on low-risk products and risk reduction activities.
José Luis Alonso Prados
Researcher in the Plant Protection Products Unit (PPPU-INIA) at INIA (Since 2001). Master Agricultural Engineering (1986-1993) and PhD Plant Pathology (1997) at Polytechnic University of Madrid. 2001-2011: Researcher at the Plant Protection Unit at INIA, responsible of the evaluation of active substances and plant protec¬tion products (PPP) in the frame of Directive 91/414/EC and the EU Regulation 1107/2009. 2011-2017. He got the position at INIA of Technical Director of Eval¬uation of Plant Varieties and Plant Protection Products. In 2017, until 2019, he got the position at INIA of General Deputy of Foresight and Research Program Coordination. Actually he is the Head of the Plant Protection Products Unit at INIA. PPPU-INIA is responsible of the assessment of active substances and PPP and MRL in the framework of Regulation 1107/2009 and Regulation 396/2005, authorized as OIE by MAPA in 2015. Also PPPU-INIA develops research projects in the field of pesticides and their residues and its behavior and effect in the environment .He has published 49 publications in journals of impact, with 987 citations in 522 articles, 18 book chapter , he has also several publication in divulgation journals. He has presented 48 works in national and international congresses, 36 invited conferences, participation in 91 expert committees and organization of 10 re¬search activities. He is acting as a co-chair in Post Approval Issues Working Group, as Spanish representative in the Pesticide Steering Committee in EFSA and he has chaired also the SMS Steering Committee and representing the SMS at the IZ Steering Committee.
Christian Prohaska
I studied at the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences (Vienna) Food- and Biotechnology (1984 – 1993). From 1994 to 2000 I worked for different public bodies dealing with various risk assessment issues in the field of plant protection products (risk assessment for consumer; evaluation of plant protection products with respect to residue behaviour; fate and behaviour of plant protection products in the environment with respect to drinking water contamination). In 2000, I completed a postgraduate program in toxicology at the Medical University Vienna. In 2002, I started to work in the field of toxicology at AGES (deputy head of department of toxicology). By 2005, I became head of the Department of Residue Behaviour and Physchem Properties at AGES. I am chair of EU Commission WG “post approval issues” and the Interzonal Steering Committee.
Maarten Trybou
Maarten Trybou is the head of the department for plant protection and fertilising products at the Federal Public Service for Public health, Food chain safety and Environment. After his training as agricultural engineer, he started at the former Ministry of Agriculture as officer for the national applications for plant protection products. Later on he became responsible for the team in charge of these applications, and eventually for the whole department. Last year, he passed on his function as president of the national authorisation committee in order to fully engage with the management of the department, that grew in the meantime to a staff of 66 experts dealing with the evaluation and policy for the placing on the market of plant protection and fertilising products in Belgium.

10:45

Coffee Break

11:05

Breakout 5

Scientific Guidance Documents and their effect on innovation

  • Sycamore Ballroom
Moderator
Maria Grazia Camisa
Maria Grazia Camisa is graduated in Food Science and Technology at the Catholic University of Piacenza; she joined BASF Italia S.p.A as Country Regulatory Manager in 2010, after more than 10 years of experience in Regulatory Affairs at national level in multinational companies. After leading the Regulatory, Sustainability, Public and Governmental Affairs and External Communications team for Southern European Countries, Africa and Middle East., Maria Grazia currently covers the position as Head of Regulatory Affairs Crop Protection EMEA-CIS at BASF.
Speaker
Manuela Tiramani
Manuela graduated from the university of Milan (IT) as medical doctor. She continued her education with 4 years of specialised course in occupational health, industrial hygiene and toxicology, and a PhD in occupational health (with a focus on risk from non dietary exposure to pesticides). In 2000 she joined as regulatory toxicologist the International Centre for Pesticides and Health Risk Prevention in Milan, one of the EU national competent authorities dealing with the risk assessment of plant protection products at national and EU level. In 2005 Manuela was hired by EFSA as scientific officer for mammalian toxicology in the Pesticide Unit, where a couple of years later she took the position of team leader responsible for mammalian toxicology risk assessment and non dietary exposure assessment. In 2014 she was offered the position of Head of the EFSA FEED Unit, where she worked from 2015 to 2018 for a total of 4 years. In January 2019 Manuela went back to the pesticide area, being appointed as Head of the Pesticide Peer Review Unit (PREV) of the European Food Safety Authority.
Anne Alix
Anne Alix worked in the area of plant protection products risk assessment for 22 years. After a PhD in Integrated Pest Management at the University of Rennes, Anne joined the French National Institute on Research in Agronomy (INRA) as an ecotoxicologist in the scientific unit for the risk assessment of crop protection products. Anne was nominated head of the Environment and Ecotoxicology risk assessment unit at the French Agency on the safety of Food (AFSSA, now ANSES), where she initiated scientific collaborations with the pesticide unit of EFSA. Anne then joined the French Ministry of Agriculture as the deputy head of the Section for Regulation of Plant Protection Products and fertilizers, in charge of the implementation of risk mitigation measures for pesticides and of post registration monitoring. Anne joined Dow AgroSciences, now Corteva Agriscience, in 2011, and is Regulatory Affairs and Risk Management Leader for Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Karin Nienstedt
Dr. Karin Nienstedt leads the Sector Pesticides – placing on the market in the unit “Pesticides and Biocides” of the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety of the European Commission. Before joining the European Commission in 2010, she worked in the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) as scientific officer for the PPR Panel. She also worked several years in academia and in a GLP-contract research facility on topics related to crop protection and ecotoxicology.

Breakout 6

Challenges around co-formulants

  • Willow Room
Moderator
Dörthe Grebel-Koehler
Dr. Grebel-Koehler works as a Global Regulatory Manager with Bayer AG Crop Science Division. An organic chemist by training, she joined the crop protection industry in 2004 after graduating from the Max-Plank-Institute for Polymer Research/Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, directly focusing on regulatory topics. Her current focus is on the registration of active ingredients in EU27 and the Chemical Strategy for Sustainability, specifically on the legislative changes and the regulatory interplay. Dr. Grebel-Koehler is the chair of the ChemEG and member of other CropLife Europe teams including the CLEG and the CSS Subteam.
Speaker
Maristella Rubbiani
Dr. Rubbiani has a degree in Biological Sciences and a PhD in Environmental and industrial hygiene: she is currently policy officier at DG SANTE E4-Pesticides and biocides, where she is in charge of PPP substances’ approval and new and emerging issues such as endocrine disruptors, CLP revision and co-formulants. She was in the past the director of the Unit of “Chemical substances approval and products authorization” at National Center for Chemicals – Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) Roma, Italy (where she worked for 35 years), in charge of risk assessment and risk management for biocides and plant protection products and for classification and labelling according to CLP Regulation. For 17 years, responsible of the National Poison Center database for art 45 (CLP). Member of several committees, inspector for dangerous preparations and GLP, teacher in universities for risk assessment and consumer safety. Tutor in several Taiex/Twinning projects and BTSF trainings.
Axel Steer
Axel Steer has a degree in Physical Chemistry. He has worked for the Chamber of Handicrafts in Rostock on new technologies. Since 2004 he works for the BVL – the Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety in Germany (department plant protection products), since 2021 as Head of Unit Product Chemistry, Adjuvants and Parallel Trade.

12:05

Lunch

13:15

Breakout 7

Is the European Union lagging behind on Biopesticides?

  • Sycamore Ballroom
Moderator
Jacki Davis
Jacki Davis is a leading commentator and analyst on European Union affairs. She is an experienced journalist, speaker and moderator of high-level events; a regular broadcaster on television and radio news; and a Senior Adviser to the Brussels-based think tank, the European Policy Centre. She has been based in Brussels for nearly 30 years, and was previously the EPC’s Communications Director; editor-in-chief of E!Sharp, a magazine on EU affairs; launch editor of European Voice, a Brussels-based newspaper on EU affairs owned by The Economist Group, from 1995-2000 (now Politico); and Brussels correspondent of a British national newspaper.
Speaker
Mauricio Rodriguez
Bacteriologist from the Pontifical Xavierian University of Colombia, Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Texas A&M University. Conducted postdoctoral research in Synthetic and Computational Biology at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. Over 25 years of experience promoting policies and dialogue around the social, economic and ethical implications of science and technology, through various leadership roles. Served as Manager of the National Biotechnology Program for the Colombian government, where he designed and led research and biotechnological innovation policies in environment and biodiversity, agriculture, health and other industries. He has been an advisor and science and technology consultant to the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. National Research Council. Served as a researcher at CIAT / CGIAR and the Colombian Agricultural Research Corporation, Corpoica (now AgroSavia), leading research on plant and microbial genetic transformation for applications on biological control and pest/disease resistance. Prior to joining CropLife, he served as Founder and CEO of the Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology of Colombia (BIOS.CO), organization dedicated to further innovation on health, environmental and agricultural sciences through digital technologies and data science. Joined CropLife Latin America in 2014.
Luminița Velea
Dr. Luminita Velea is a Principal Scientific Consultant at TSG. She specializes in product chemistry to determine the compliance of antimicrobial, biochemical, and conventional pesticides, under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). She also provides guidance on Globally Harmonized Systems (GHS) as well as testing standards including Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) and current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP). Dr. Velea has more than 15 years of experience in study design and monitoring, residue testing, and the analysis of chemical compounds. She frequently prepares data waiver rationales, prepares safety data sheets (SDS), conducts on-site reviews including audits and training, and develops testing protocols that adhere to GLP and cGMP standards. Before joining TSG, she was an Interdisciplinary Physical Scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Services (AMS). Dr. Velea has a BS in Mathematics and Physics from Murgoci School, Romania, an MS in Chemical Engineering from the Polytechnic Institute at Bucharest, Romania and a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Mississippi.

Breakout 8

Implementation of EU transparency and access to justice rules

  • Willow Room
Moderator
Gérardine Garçon
Dr. Gérardine Garçon is Vice President Global Regulatory Legal at BASF Agricultural Solutions. She is an expert in European and international laws, with a strong focus on risk regulation and crop protection law. Gérardine further chairs the CropLife Europe Legal team and the CropLife International Protection of Regulatory Data team. Gérardine holds a law degree from the Saarland University and a LL.M. from its Europa Institut. She obtained her PhD in 1997 with a thesis on the legality of trade embargoes of the European Union under European and public international law. She had joined BASF corporate legal in Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Germany in 1996 and was delegated several years to the BASF Brussels office before she transferred to BASF’s Agricultural Solutions division. Gérardine regularly publishes and gives presentations in the area of regulatory laws and the freedom of information legal framework / Aarhus legislation.
Speaker
Darren Abrahams
Darren enables clients throughout the chemicals and life sciences supply chain to get and keep their products on the European Union market. He focuses on defense of products through strategic advice, advocacy before institutions and agencies, and litigation before EU and national courts and tribunals. He has a wealth of experience with the EU regulation of biocidal products, plant protection products (agrochemicals), REACH, classification, labelling and packaging, GM food and feed, cosmetics, endocrine disrupting properties, establishing and servicing the needs of consortia and taskforces, and Brexit regulatory strategies. He also has particular experience defending clients resisting requests for access to confiden¬tial business information. Darren is recognized Europe-wide for his Environment and Agro/Food practice by Chambers Europe, who quotes clients’ praise for his work: “he is very knowledgeable and experienced in his field – a very good com¬municator who is responsive and strategically savvy.”

14:05

Coffee Break

14:25

Session 6

Sustainability: Meeting tomorrow’s challenges

  • Sycamore Ballroom
Moderator
Jacki Davis
Jacki Davis is a leading commentator and analyst on European Union affairs. She is an experienced journalist, speaker and moderator of high-level events; a regular broadcaster on television and radio news; and a Senior Adviser to the Brussels-based think tank, the European Policy Centre. She has been based in Brussels for nearly 30 years, and was previously the EPC’s Communications Director; editor-in-chief of E!Sharp, a magazine on EU affairs; launch editor of European Voice, a Brussels-based newspaper on EU affairs owned by The Economist Group, from 1995-2000 (now Politico); and Brussels correspondent of a British national newspaper.
Panelist
Annick Pleysier
Ms Annick Pleysier is Head of EMEA Crop Science (Public Affairs, Science and Sustainability) of Bayer’s Crop Science Division. During her career, Annick has held several roles in Bayer’s regulatory department, including regulatory leadership for Europe, Middle East, Asia, and Africa. As such, she has worked on a variety of regulatory and policy challenges across the company’s entire portfolio, including Biotechnology, Crop Protection, Seeds, and Digital. According to Annick, her passion is contributing to bringing innovation to agriculture for a more sustainable future. She joined Bayer in 2001, having graduated with an MSc in Bioengineering (major in Agronomy, minor in Environmental Sciences) from KU Leuven.
Emma Trogen
Emma Trogen is Deputy Director General of Cosmetics Europe, where she also leads the legal department. Before joining Cosmetics Europe in 2013, she worked in two international law firms in Brussels, advising clients on EU regulatory and antitrust files. Emma currently coordinates the Cosmetics Europe work on the European Green Deal and the implications for cosmetics of the CSS. She is also the project lead on the Cosmetics Europe sustainability initiative Commit for Our Planet. Emma is a qualified Attorney and graduated from the Universities of Nantes and Rennes, France.
Aaron McLoughlin
Public affairs specialist Aaron McLoughlin focuses on legislative affairs and product defence, chemicals and environmental regulation . Previously, he served as head of the World Wildlife Fund’s European Marine Programme. He also worked for two British Members of the European Parliament and he worked in DG Environment on air quality and waste legislation. He is a guest lecturer at Maastricht University on EU lobbying, and he contributed to the book “How to Work with the EU Institutions” (2020).

15:10

Session 7

Closing remarks

Speech
Olivier de Matos
Olivier de Matos is the Director General of CropLife Europe. Prior to CropLife Europe he was the Secretary General at ECETOC, the European Centre for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology of Chemicals, where he spent 4 years leading the association and promoting its scientific programme activities and initiatives. Before that he held various leadership positions at Burson-Marsteller (now BCW) where he worked for more than 15 years.

15:30

End

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