Director, Corporate IPM
Mastronardi Produce
Ronald Valentin was born in the heart of the greenhouse industry in the Netherlands. His family owned a greenhouse operation and his father started using biological control in 1971. At a very young age Ronald developed an interest for the “bugs” and as a teenager he was managing and producing the biological control agents for the family greenhouse operation.
After finishing his education in crop protection management, biochemistry and vegetable production at State Secondary College of Agriculture in De Lier the Netherland, he embarked on a career in biological control June 9th 1986. After working in biological control technical support in the Netherlands and several other European countries, he came to Canada for his first visit in 1996. After traveling to Canada once every 6 to 7 weeks in 1996 and 1997 he immigrated to Canada in December 1997. In March 2004 he became a Canadian Citizen.
Over the years Ronald has worked with many growers to set up sustainable and effective pest management programs with as a focus to use BCA’s as a first line of defense. He has trained and managed technical support teams in Europe, Canada and the USA. November 7th 2022, Ronald Valentin joined Mastronardi Produce in the role or Director, Corporate IPM. Ronald is very passionate about making an IPM and biological control approach work for each and every grower as well as reducing the use of pesticides for the better of the environment and the future.
