3 - 4 September 2025
Lelystad
The Netherlands

Welcome to the International Conference “Integrated Crop Management (ICM) – The future of potato farming”, where we explore innovative strategies to future proof potato farming. ICM is a comprehensive approach that minimizes the use of synthetic inputs while maintaining the growth of healthy, resilient crops and ensuring farm profitability. This conference will delve into potato research and production strategies within the five key pillars of ICM:

Crop diversity: Learn how rotating and diversifying crops can mitigate the risks of pests, diseases, and weeds.
Cultivar and cropping strategy: Discover how the right potato varieties and cultivation methods can enhance crop health, tuber quality and yield.
Soil, water, and nutrients: Explore innovative strategies for variable rate nutrient management, reducing inputs while maintaining strong crop growth.
Targeted control: See examples of how precise, localized pest and disease control with low risk pesticides can reduce the need for conventional high risk pesticides.
Monitoring and evaluation: Gain insights on how to monitor performance, assess effectiveness, and continuously improve strategies.

Join us as we discuss the latest advancements and share insights on how ICM can shape the future of potato farming.

ICM isn't just advanced integrated farming, responding to future environmental needs — it’s farming smarter, and farming more profitably!

Location: Conference area
Date: 3 September
Time: 10:30 - 12:30 hrs & 14:00 - 16:30 hrs
Language: English
Registration: Register as a visitor and select the additional option to participate in the conference!

First confirmed speakers

Keynote Speaker

Guy G. Hareau, Principal Scientist, Social and Nutritional Sciences Division, International Potato Center (CIP), Peru

Guy Hareau is an agricultural economist and Principal Scientist at the International Potato Center (CIP) in Lima, Peru. He has experience as a farmer and as an extension agent and worked for the National Agricultural Research Institute of Uruguay (INIA) for 17 years. In 2008, he joined the International Potato Center based in Lima, Peru. As an impact assessment expert, he conducted several studies to provide evidence of CIP’s contribution to reducing poverty and hunger around the world. Between 2016 and 2023, he was the Leader of the Social and Nutritional Sciences Division at CIP. He has a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from Virginia Tech, USA.

Peter Gildemacher, Managing Director, Sepia Foundation, The Netherlands

Peter is a seed sector expert with a focus on potato seed systems in sub-Saharan Africa, and is co-founder of the Sepia Foundation.

He has 25 years of experience in the design, implementation, and evaluation of agricultural sector transformation projects and programs across Africa. He is an applied researcher in agronomy and sustainable economic development. Prior to the Sepia Foundation, he worked as knowledge director and senior advisor at KIT Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam, International Potato Center (CIP) in Nairobi, the National Tree Seed Center (CNSF) in Burkina Faso, and Wageningen Field Crops Research - Trees and Fruit.

Timo Sprangers, Researcher Crop Health, Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands

Timo Sprangers works as a researcher in Crop Health for Wageningen Plant Research. The main focus area of his work is management of weeds in arable cropping systems. In the Crop Health team, together with colleagues who specialise in control of pests, diseases and nematodes, he is involved in research on the redesign of cropping systems that are more resilient against pests, diseases, nematodes and weeds. The concept of Integrated Crop Management (ICM) was developed to aid the systematic design of such cropping systems. In various projects, Timo is active in both research on the design and performance of such integrated systems, and contributes to on-farm projects that aim for the adaptation of ICM-practices.

Paul Ravensbergen, Post-Doc, Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands

Paul Ravensbergen holds a PhD in agronomy from Wageningen University. In his PhD, he explored variability in yield, resource use efficiency, and environmental impact of ware potato production in the Netherlands. Currently, Paul is a postdoctoral researcher at the Plant Production Systems group of Wageningen University. His research focuses on understanding variation among farmers in terms of input use, crop productivity, and environmental impact at crop rotation level.