We invite you to participate in various workshops during the two-day conference in October. On this page, you can explore the workshop topics.
Workshops Thursday 17 October
13:45 – 15:45 Parallel workshops (two sessions of one hour)
CropXR education: what is coming up and how can you get involved?
By Atoesa Farokhi, Ben Noordijk, Elysa Overdijk, who coordinate CropXR education / develop the minor program
How do we transfer CropXR knowledge to a new generation of breeders, researchers and policymakers? By developing an educational minor & building a Learning Community. For this, we try to reach a diverse group of students from (applied) universities. This can only become a success if we receive your input! How do we optimally design and share educational modules? Which concepts and skills are crucial to convey? And how do we set up valuable (applied) research projects with students? Come and find out what CropXR education will offer. Would you like get involved? Great, feel invited to join!
Plant resilience for non-biologists
By Martijn van Zanten, Plant Stress Resilience, Institute of Environmental Biology, Utrecht University and Christa Testerink, Laboratory of Plant Physiology, Wageningen University & Research
Plants are not helpless creatures. In fact, plants master the art of being flexible. In this workshop we will bring non-biologist associated to CropXR up to speed with the common terminology used in the field of plant stress resilience. Moreover, we will discuss how plants adapt and acclimate to stressful environmental conditions.
Modelling & AI for biologists
By Jordan Earle, Jordi Alonso Esteve, Aalt-Jan van Dijk who are affiliated to Biosystems Data Analysis, Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam
In this workshop, we will introduce plant biologists to two major types of modeling used in CropXR. We will highlight their similarities and differences.
– Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Machine Learning (ML) models are “black-box” models that learn patterns from data.
– Mechanistic models are based on known or hypothesized relationships, typically derived from physical, chemical, or biological laws.
You will get a feeling for both type of approaches using online tools (please bring your laptop!). The workshop will cover the pros and cons of both approaches. How to combine them to address plant stress resilience?
Workshops Friday 18 October
14:00 – 15:30 Parallel workshops
Societal implications
By Jonathan Arentoft, Koen Beumer, Aisha So, Eva Valencia Leñero and Elsenoor Wijlhuizen of the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University and Víctor Betriu Yáñez of the Philosophy Group, Wageningen University and Research
The success of smart breeding does not only depend on technological breakthroughs. It also depends on a variety of societal factors, including regulations, market structures, and public values. In this interactive session, we aim to collect your input and ideas on how we can align smart breeding with societal needs and concerns.
Process-based crop models: practical
application and further development
By Neil Budko & Corné Verburg, Delft University of Technology, and Tamara ten Den, Wageningen University & Research and Clemens Stolk, Representative of potato processing companies in CropXR Potato
A central element in CropXR is the development of models that enhance our understanding of crop development and accelerate breeding. Moreover, these models should reliable and able to be applied in farming practice. In this workshop, we will explore the calibration of current process-based models, their possible stochastic extension, and potential practical applications of such models.
In the soil
By Gerard van der Linden, Wageningen UR Plant Breeding, Wageningen University and Corné Pieterse, Plant Microbe Interactions at Utrecht University, Francisco Pinto Espinosa & Jochem Evers from the Centre of Systems Analysis, Wageningen University
The interaction of plants with soil is of critical importance for their response to most abiotic stresses. In crops like potato and onion, the soil also facilitates formation and yield of the underground storage organs. In this workshop, we demonstrate how fundamental research on soil- and root-based characteristics – and their interaction with plant growth – can contribute to yield of a field crop under drought and nitrogen-limitation stress conditions. Furthermore, we will demonstrate how contributions of soil/microbiome characteristics, root traits, source-sink relationships, photosynthesis and plant morphology to crop yield under these stresses are integrated in evaluation and modelling of the stress response of potato.
Growth under stress
By Petra Bleeker, University of Amsterdam and Richard Immink, Wageningen University & Research and Julia Ruiz Capella, Utrecht University
In this workshop we introduce the three work packages that focus on plant response under temperature stress. We aim to discuss similarities and connections. C2 investigates the defense response under (a)biotic stress combinations, C4 focuses on the trade-offs between growth and resilience and C5 studies how plants maintain fruit and seed yield under temperature stress.