PCA2025 logo - white

Meet Our Keynote Speakers

The PCA Conference 2025 is pleased to welcome our Keynote Speakers.  

As new speakers are confirmed they will be updated here, so check back soon. Each speaker will bring a unique perspective, knowledge, and experience. So don’t miss the opportunity to hear from these leaders within their respective fields. 

*Click on the images or names to read our speakers’ biographies. 

Tristan Kitchener

Lee Stiles

Levi Nupponen

Warren Davies

Godfrey Dol

Name

Name

Name

text

text

Text

CONFERENCE
INFORMATION

Protected Cropping Australia
Conference 2025

28-30 July 2025
Adelaide Convention Centre

CONFERENCE
ORGANISERS

All Occasions Group
12 Stirling Street
Thebarton SA 5031

Contact Information
conference@aomevents.com
(08) 8125 2200

Tristan Kitchener

Kitchener Partners

Tristan is an ex-retailer, having previously held senior positions with Sainsbury’s (UK) and Coles supermarkets, and is now a management consultant providing advice and support along the grocery value chain, from major retailers through to manufacturers and primary producers. He has a focus upon fresh foods and was previously the Group Merchandise Manager for Fresh Produce at Coles Supermarkets.

Tristan has his own consulting business, Kitchener Partners Pty Ltd, focused upon providing strategic and advisory support. Increasingly Tristan assists businesses understand the implications of the changing retail and consumer environment and helps identify solutions to key business challenges.

Tristan is a strong advocate for supply chain members collaborating more closely to better understand and meet the needs of the consumer. He believes that this can be most effectively achieved by transferring learning from other markets and sectors.

In addition, Tristan has recently assumed the role of Course Director for the Produce Executive Program, a longstanding industry-led course that has been in operation for 25 years. He is also an Operating Partner for ROC Partners, a private equity business with over $5 billion invested in

Australian agriculture. Tristan is also a part-owner of Agricultural Networks, a packer, marketer and distributor of fresh cherries to domestic and international markets, located in Orange, NSW.  Tristan also manages and operates the Harmonised Australian Retailer Produce Scheme (HARPS) on behalf of the major grocery retailers in Australia (ALDI, Coles, Costco, Harris Farms, Metcash (IGA) and Woolworths) and Hello Fresh, Marley Spoon and McDonalds. HARPS is a retailer-led scheme designed to assist with compliance to food safety, legal and trade requirements for suppliers of fresh produce. 

Tristan is a regular speaker at industry conferences and appears as a sector expert in shows such as Switzer Daily on Sky Business TV. He works with a range of businesses including major and independent retailers, manufactures, private equity firms, state and federal government and other SMEs. Tristan’s formal qualifications include GAICD, MBA, MPhil (Horticulture Management) and BSc (Hons) Biological Sciences.

Please visit www.kitchenerpartners.com.au for more information.

Lee Stiles

Lea Valley Growers’ Association

Lee has been Secretary of the Lea Valley Growers Association for 17 years.

 

The Association was formed in 1911 to promote & Support Glasshouse Growers in the Lea Valley just a few miles from London, England.

 

Lee’s media work includes a BBC Documentary (Our Family Cucumber Farm) along with numerous appearances on BBC Countryfile, SKY News and worldwide TV,  Radio & Printed media.

 

Lee is also an Agent for the National Farmers Union Mutual Insurance Society who provide cover to numerous Horticultural Food & Drink Business in the UK. 

Levi Nupponen

Agrology Pty Ltd

Levi, Managing Director of Agrology Pty Ltd, leads an innovative consultancy providing technical solutions and strategic support to the agribusiness sector. Agrology serves a diverse clientele, including commercial enterprises, industry bodies, and government agencies across Australia and internationally, with a strong focus on advancing sustainable food production systems.

With over 20 years of expertise in protected cropping, Levi is a skilled horticultural scientist with executive training from INSEAD. His career spans technical, operational, and marketing roles across Oceania, Europe, and North-East Asia.

Levi’s career began in the Netherlands, where he developed advanced expertise in glasshouse management. He later applied these skills as Grower Manager at Costa Group, contributing to the establishment of their first large-scale glasshouses in Australia.

He then transitioned to a global role at Syngenta, where he worked across Oceania, North-East Asia, and Europe. During his tenure, Levi was instrumental in pioneering Australia’s snacking tomato category, a project that earned global recognition within the company.

In 2012, Levi joined the start-up Green Camel, where he co-invented a patent-pending technology platform integrating recirculating aquaculture with intensive organic horticulture. As the architect of this innovative system, Levi translated complex processes into user-friendly models and management tools for production farms. This groundbreaking work earned Levi and his co-inventor The University of Sydney Alumni Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in 2016.

In 2017, Levi founded Agrology, focusing on education, technology implementation, and project development in controlled environment agriculture (CEA), with an emphasis on business optimisation and circularity-driven sustainability. He also holds a lead technical role in the Goodness Grown Project, where he oversees technical design, operational systems, and technical optimisation for a 20-hectare, state-of-the-art CEA facility that integrates bioenergy production.

Levi’s career is marked by a steadfast commitment to innovation and sustainability, establishing him as a driving force in the advancement of future-focused food production systems.

Warren Davies

The Unbreakable Farmer

Warren Davies is not just an average farmer. There is more to him than meets the eye. He is now one of the country’s leading mental health speakers and advocates, His eventful life has tested his Resilience, Persistence, and Determination. Events which had a massive impact on his young family, relationships, and finances. But this has made Warren who he is today – The Unbreakable Farmer.

He empathetically engages with individuals and organisations by sharing the journey of piecing his life back together, and the vast array of life lessons he learnt along the way.

Warren’s keynote topics centre on resilience, persistence, determination, leadership and wellbeing. These are relevant to people of all ages and backgrounds, from all communities.

His authentic, inspiring, and thought-provoking presentations are all developed from his own journey and lessons learnt. These lessons cover both business and life, presenting his audiences with a range of key take-home insights.

Warren also provides tips and tools that his audience can easily implement in day-to-day life, enabling them to pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and continue moving forward.

His down-to-earth, no-nonsense approach makes his story relevant to everyone! Whether you’re from the country or the city, a small business owner or the CEO of a large corporation. His story will strike a chord in you!

Godfrey Dol

Van der Hoeven Horticultural Projects

Godfrey was born, raised, and educated in the Netherlands with a degree in Chemistry. He kicked off his career in Saudi Arabia, where he solved the nutritional problems of a large farming operation. After that, he was asked to become a grower. This switch in career path allowed him to work in ten different countries, of which he spent more than 20 years in Australia, all in service of the glasshouse industry. His employers include Village Farms, The Costa Group, Rijk Zwaan, BayWa, and van der Hoeven. He started his business, Glasshouse Consultancy, ten years ago. During the last four years, he worked with the CEA investment business Equilibrium, where he became familiar with glasshouse investment. He was voted DPI Farmer of the Year in 2013 and published a book in 2022 called “How to Grow in a ModulAir Glasshouse. He won the 2021 Artificial Intelligence Tomato contest organized by the University of Wageningen, in which 5 AI teams, who were not allowed to enter the glasshouse, competed against experienced growers.

Godfrey is currently working for Van der Hoeven as Director to Operate and Maintain two ambitious projects at Neom in Saudi Arabia. He also recorded a music album on Spotify.