Thomas Forrest

Tom is passionate about helping the growth and sustainability of Australian and New Zealand agriculture and cannabis cultivation.

Tom is an Australian certified horticulturalist/agronomist working in the protected cropping industry. He is also an esteemed public speaker, presenting at pharmaceuitcal events, universities and worldwide conferences to share cannabis agronomic insights, the findings of his Churchill Fellowship and provide a global overview of cannabis industries.

He has spent the past seven years working in the horticultural sector while also studying production horticulture, hydroponics and plant botany at a university level.

Tom is currently the co-founder and Cultivation Director for Puro (Marlborough, NZ), co-founder and Managing Director of Indicated Technology (Melbourne, VIC) and Communications Manager for Stealth Garden Wholesale (Adelaide, SA).

Consulting to multiple groups including ASX public companies, universities and private businesses, Tom has helped to instigate and guide multiple successful medical cannabis projects in Australia and New Zealand.

Tom is the first Fellow to study cannabis agronomy. He has a Bachelor of Media from the Univesrity of Canberra, including a study year at the Univesrity of Hertfordshire. He has a Diploma of Business, Marketing from the Melbourne Institute of Technology, achieving a DEan's Commendation for High Achievement, and in 2018 entered the MIT Alumni Hall of Fame. He has a Certificate III in Production Horticulture/Hydroponic Crop Production from the Chisholm Institute and achieved a HD in Plant Structure and Function, Horticulture from RMIT University. Tom is also currently completing post graduate studies in Agricultural Business at UTAS. Tom is also an esteemed public speaker.

He was fortunate to visit 8 countries, 28 cities and more than 50 cannabis cultivation sites between April and August 2019. This included visits to hi-tech sealed environment glasshouses, 'pharma' grade indoor facilities, traditional glasshouses, organic and outdoor broad-acre cannabis cultivation sites.

The purpose of his trip was to learn from existing worldwide approaches to cannabis agronomy and share this knowledge to help our local industry grow successfully.

Tom now has an intimate knowledge and understanding of pharmaceuitcal standards required of cannabis agronomy. This, combined with his business and marketing qualifications and expertise, has seen Tom become a sought-after lecturer, speaker and advisor on sustainable and successful cannabis cultivation.