About Cultivators

Sonny Moerenhout

Born and raised in a Dutch greenhouse, Sonny developed a passion for plant cultivation from an early age. Growing up surrounded by horticulture laid the foundation for his deep understanding of plant science and commercial growing operations. Sonny has been consulting growers for years on cannabis cultivation in countries where medicinal cannabis is legalized. His cultivation experience and expertise is strengthened as result of his involvement in trials at Wageningen University.

Sonny holds a master’s degree in plant science from Wageningen University & Research, specializing in greenhouse horticulture. He understands the importance of collaboration between the pharmaceutical, horticultural and hobby industries within the cannabis sector. Through his extensive international network and hands-on experience, he has learned that cultivation expertise is a critical factor in the success of professional growing facilities.

Tim van Hissenhoven

Born and raised near the city of Mechelen, in Belgium’s main greenhouse vegetable‑growing area. As the son of a tomato and lettuce grower he literally grew up between the plants in a greenhouse. That’s where his passion for plants and greenhouse growing originates.

Specialized in hydroponic growing of leafy vegetables and herbs in open field, greenhouses or closed environments, and plant propagation. Currently consulting and supporting projects all over the world in different climate zones (like Japan, India, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and North America).

Nicole Kuleshova Shalumov

Nicole is originally from Israel. She completed her BSc at the HAS University of Applied Sciences in Den Bosch, the Netherlands. Graduated in 2023, Nicole studied Horticulture and Business Management. She specialized in Cultivation and Technology, where she gained both theoretical knowledge and practical experience with high-tech cultivation of tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, cannabis, and more.

Nicole started in the company as a research intern during her studies, and since then, she has been part of our team, evolving and developing in multiple fields over time. Now she is the Operations & Marketing Manager, leading the Cultivators’ marketing team as well as responsible for multiple operational aspects, both internally and with our clients in the international horticulture sector. She is very enthusiastic and keen to further develop as a professional in the international hydroponic leafy greens industry, among others.

Eelke Hempenius

With a career spanning continents and decades, Eelke Hempenius has become a respected figure in horticulture through his passion for innovation, global experience, and dedication to knowledge sharing. From leafy greens to cannabis and to vegetables, his hands-on expertise and pioneering work in high-tech greenhouse solutions have shaped modern cultivation practices. Now at Cultivators, Eelke continues to inspire the next generation while driving advancements in automated growing systems and sustainable horticulture worldwide.

Hang Hoang

Hằng is from Vietnam. Prior to joining Cultivators, she has 10 years of working experience in supply chain and project management for L’Oréal and Glaxo Smith Kline. Over this period, Hang has expanded her understanding of numerous business cases across a range of sales channels, including retail, general & modern trade, hospitals, and pharmacies. While pursuing her full-time degree in Horticulture and Business Management, Hang joined the team of Cultivators part-time and is involved in projects’ support, financial overviews, and marketing assistance

Vincent Kickert

From an early age, Vincent has had interests in engineering and constructive technologies. With an initial study of aerospace engineering, the lack of creativity allowed made him change to Industrial Design Engineering. After which he accidently rolled into the horticultural industry, designing the climate systems of a well known (semi-closed) greenhouse builder. In the next decade he worked on a various range of greenhouses, crops and, more importantly, climates across the globe. His passion for designing and developing remained and resulted in multiple new systems patented and build.

With the vision that a stronger market benefits all and the market for horticultural projects is far from saturated, spreading knowledge and support became more important. He is now a climate consultant and no longer working in R&D test chambers. Optimizing the sustainability and efficiency of your climate systems while fresh and healthy products leave the site, are the on-going challenge he enjoys helping with.

Cassi Aluf

With a multidisciplinary background in sustainable agriculture, entomology, and horticultural business management, Cassi offers a complementary perspective to Cultivators’ expert team. Her practical experience in biological pest control and greenhouse systems supports the company’s mission to promote safe, high-quality cultivation practices. She now brings this multidisciplinary perspective to Cultivators’ Marketing and Communication team, where she is eager to contribute to the promotion of sustainable horticultural practices and innovation.

Richard Kooijman

Richard has been working in commercial horticulture for over 20 years since graduating with a Masters in Horticulture in 1997. He is a very experienced tomato grower with exceptional knowledge of pests, diseases and their control, plant nutrition and fertigation strategies.

He has both BASIS and FACTS (UK) qualifications and is a DAFM approved Pesticide Advisor (Ireland). Richard has been consulting both cannabis and tomato growers in recent years, and enjoys coaching growing teams to help them reach their fullest potential. Nowadays Richard works as a senior consultant for Cannabis Cultivators.

Brady Green

Brady was the head grower and vice-president of cultivation for one of Canada’s largest cannabis companies. Brady has designed several state of the art GMP cannabis facilities from the ground up and has consulted on multiple other greenhouse, indoor facilities and outdoor production around the globe.

His growing style ranges from small scale organic to highly technical hydroponic, always maintaining a high-quality product. Brady’s expertise will help you design a facility and implement processes to maximize efficiency and create a high-end product.

Rens Michielsen

Rens has developed and implemented compliance protocols for suppliers in the cannabis industry. He worked for one of the global suppliers of consumables in the cannabis industry. As a result he has strong understanding of the legal requirements of being active in the cannabis industry.

The cannabis industry has specific challenges since the complexity of the regulatory landscape and the undergoing rapid developments of legalization.Rens brings compliance protocols in place for both growers and suppliers, your customers, your staff and other stakeholders in order to enable compliant services. Rens’ his success relies on his expert knowledge, legal background and expertise the cannabis industry.

Tom Moerenhout

Tom is a highly experienced eggplant grower and was running his own greenhouse company in the Netherlands till end of 2018. After he sold his company he got frequently asked for advise because of his 35 years of growing experience. Today he is consulting growers with daily operations such as climate control, crop maintenance, nutrition and other cultivation topics. He is specialized in eggplants (aubergines) and has also been growing tomato and cucumbers.

Willem van Dijk

Willem grew up in Vleuten in the middle of the Netherlands. With family in agriculture and horticulture it is logical that Willem has been working in the horticulture for over 35 years. He is a very experienced tomato / cucumber grower and specialized in artificial light since 2006. He was also running his own greenhouse company in the south of the Netherlands for a couple of years.

Willem is involved in employee training and organization of labor in projects globally together with other colleagues. Currently consulting and supporting projects all over the world in different climate zones (like Japan-Vietnam-Mexico-Spain-Austria- Germany-Czech-England-Finland).