On October 9 and 10, we will host the annual CropXR Conference at Kontakt der Kontinenten in Soesterberg, open to everyone involved in the CropXR program. This will be the perfect moment to come together to share progress, experiences and knowledge, and to strengthen collaboration across the entire CropXR program.
Program
Over the two days, you can look forward to a mix of latest research updates, interesting lectures, and interactive parallel sessions and workshops that address key themes across the different work packages. These sessions are designed to share results, spark dialogue between teams, and help align efforts across the program. We will also explore how to prepare the next generation to tackle the pressing challenge of climate resilience in agriculture through co-developed case studies. Have a look online to see which sessions and workshops will be hosted.
On Thursday evening science fades into celebration with a walking dinner and a party with great music, tasty drinks, and good vibes all around.
Day 1
Thursday October 9, 2025
09.00 – 10.00
Registration and coffee (Atrium & Konnekt Lounge)
10.00 – 10.15
Opening and introduction (St. Janzaal)
10.15 – 11.05
Update on work packages (St. Janzaal)
- C1 ‘Demonstrator’ by Ben Noordijk
- C2 ‘Disease and temperature’ by Jordan Earle and Julia Ruiz Capella
- C3 ‘Root stress’ by Alysha Somer and Thijs Stegmann
- C4 ‘Trade-offs’ by Robert Winter
- C5 ‘Yield and viability’ by Hazel van Waijjen
11.05 – 11.35
Coffee break (Atrium & Konnekt Lounge)
11:35 – 12.45
Update on work packages (St. Janzaal)
- S1 ‘Potato satellite’ by Corné Verburg and Stijn Nagelkerke
- C6 ‘Storage organs’ by Marcello Gazale
- C7 ‘Societal impact’ by Victor Betriu Yáñez
- WP-T ‘Translator: from model to crop’ by Janne Bibbe
- WP-D ‘Data management research and innovation’ by Bianca Cosma and Eva Eleonora Ferradosa
- DataXR by Sören Wacker
- AgroXR by Max Wellens
12:45 – 14:00
Lunch (Atrium & Konnekt Lounge)
14:00 – 15:30
15:35 – 16:20
Parallel sessions (Africa hall, first floor)
- ‘Challenges and opportunities for plant drought tolerance studies’ by Francesca Giaume, Gerard van der Linden and Viola Willemsen (room Angola)
- ‘Growth, resilience and trade-offs’ by Julia Ruiz-Capella and Ronald Pierik (room Mozambique)
- ‘Plant resilience from below: root responses, nitrogen and microbiome’ by Anneke Horstman and Stijn Nagelkerke (room Tanzania)
- ‘Computational I: Connecting computational approaches by’ Eva Eleonora Ferradosa and Mónica Garcia-Gomez (room Bostwana)
- ‘Connecting the community: CropXR values’ by Atoesa Farokhi, Auke Damstra, Bernard de Geus, Guido van den Ackerveken, Hedwich Teunissen, Henk Huits, Monique Westrik and Rianne Ettekoven (rooms Angola, Botswana, Mozambique and Tanzania)
16:20 – 18:00
Poster session & drinks (Atrium & Konnekt Lounge)
18:00 – 20:00
Dinner (Atrium & Konnekt Lounge)
20:00 – 00:00
Party (Cecilia chapel)
Day 2
Friday October 10, 2025
08.30 – 9.00
Registration and coffee (Atrium & Konnekt Lounge)
09.00 – 9.10
Day start (St. Janzaal)
09.10 – 09.50
‘Future-Ready Agriculture: Innovating Tools, Traits, and Training for Complex Systems’ by Kathy Roberts Munkvold, Scientific Program Director Next Generation Crops at the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR)
(St. Janzaal)
09.50 – 10.15
‘Knowledge graphs and comparative genomics for data-driven breeding’ by Lidija Berke, Team Lead Bioinformatics and Software Development at Genetwister (St. Janzaal)
10:15 – 10:30
‘New EduXR minor: Training the next generation in Climate-Resilient Crops’ by Elysa Overdijk, Lecturer in Plant Physiology at Wageningen University (St. Janzaal)
10:30 – 11:00
Coffee break (Atrium & Konnekt Lounge)
11:00 – 12:30
Parallel sessions & workshops (Africa hall, first floor)
- ‘Co-developing cases for the EduXR Climate-Resilient Crops minor’ by Ben Noordijk, Elysa Overdijk and Koen Beumer (room Mozambique)
- ‘Temperature-related research: How can we foster interaction and translation?’ by Ivo Rieu and Martijn van Zanten (room Angola)
- ‘Technologies in plant breeding’ by Mark Roosjen and Rob Schuurink (room Tanzania)
- ‘Computational II: Advantages and disadvantages of Bayesian statistics in biology’ by Fred van Eeuwijk and Digital Connection team (room Botswana)
12:30 – 13:30
Lunch (Atrium & Konnekt Lounge)
13:30 – 14:00
‘Translating root stemness: from Arabidopsis to crops’ by Mónica Garcia-Gomez, Assistant Professor at Utrecht University (St. Janzaal)
14.00 – 14.25
‘Empowering Research: AI AGENTS for Informed Decision-Making’ by Marcel van Verk, Vice-President Crop Data Science at KeyGene (St. Janzaal)
14.25 – 14.40
‘Connecting science and practice: applied research in CropXR’ by Atoesa Farokhi, CropXR education coordinator at Amsterdam Green Campus and Milan Plasmeijer, UAS liaison at Hogeschool Inholland (St. Janzaal)
14.40 – 15.30
Closing and drinks (St. Janzaal & Konnekt Lounge)
Overnight stay
Do you want the full experience? Join the evening program on Thursday. Please check with the venue if overnight accommodation is available. If the venue is fully booked, you will find several hotels nearby, such as the Fletcher Hotel in Amersfoort or the Amrâth Berghotel Amersfoort.
Registration
This is a closed event, open only to those working within the CropXR program. For registration, contact events@cropxr.org. In spring, we will host another event where interested parties are very welcome to join!
The program is subject to change.