Juan Higuera brings more than 15 years of experience working in different roles within Colombia and Canada’s agriculture and agrifood scene. Juan has a background in agriculture, rural development, communication, and technology transfer/commercialization. Juan has lived, studied and worked in Colombia, Cuba, Costa Rica and Spain. He speaks both Spanish and English. 

Mr. Higuera is founder and principal of Cannexion Corp., a Canadian consulting and business services company www.Cannexion.com.  Mr. Higuera recently designed and managed the Ovinocaprino Canada-Colombia project www.ovinocaprino.com under the Canada-Americas Trade-related Technical Assistance Program (CATRTA).  He has provided  consultant services to companies such as: Trade Facilitation Office, Canada Pork International, Canadian Sheep Exporters Group, Canada Beef INC, CANARM, Alliance Genetics, Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, Canada Beef Breeds Council, Canadian Livestock Genetics Association, Canadian Swine Exporters Association and IICA. 

He was a member of the directive Committee for the Dairy and Potato value chain roundtable in the province of Antioquia in Colombia, as well as member of the Regional Council of Fruits and Vegetable value chain roundtable of Antioquia Province.  He participated and coordinated numerous international and rural development projects with financial support from international institutions such as the World Bank, IDB, USDA, Fontagro, IICA, CIAT, the Colombian government and private sector. 

Mr. Higuera earned a MSc in Rural Development from Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica and a B.S.A in Agricultural Engineering from the National University of Colombia.  He has also earned a specialization in rural development, policies and agricultural extension from the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Agri-food.