With less than one month to go, registrations are well underway for the 1st International Symposium of Potato, which will bring together the European potato community in Madrid on 5 October 2026, on the eve of Fruit Attraction 2026. With places limited, potato professionals interested in attending are encouraged to register soon and secure their place.
Organised by FEPEX in partnership with Fruit Attraction and Europatat, the Symposium will provide a dedicated forum for representatives from across the potato value chain to discuss some of the main challenges and opportunities facing the sector. More than 400 professionals from Spain, Europe and beyond are expected to attend, including growers, traders, seed potato specialists, processors, researchers, input and service providers, retailers and institutional representatives.
The programme will open with an institutional welcome, followed by a presentation from Peter Ton, President of Europatat, on the challenges facing potato production and trade at European level. Plant health and the solutions available to the European potato sector will then be addressed by Romans Vorss, Technical Affairs Director at Europatat and representing the PATAFEST project, and Michal Kicinski, Senior Manager Sustainable Agriculture at CropLife Europe.
The programme will also include an intervention from David De Scals of Corteva Agriscience, Platinum Sponsor of the Symposium, as well as a dedicated roundtable on the situation of the Spanish potato sector, its challenges and opportunities. Moderated by Alfonso Sáenz de Cámara, President of FEPEX’s Potato Sector Committee, the discussion will include representatives from different parts of the Spanish potato value chain, including Yolanda Medina, President of ASONAL, and Eduardo Ramos, representative of CIPP.
Taking place immediately before Fruit Attraction 2026, which has selected the potato as its Star Product, the Symposium will also provide an important opportunity to highlight the strategic role of potatoes in European agriculture, food security and rural economies, while strengthening dialogue and cooperation across the entire value chain.
The 1st International Symposium of Potato will take place on Monday 5 October 2026, from 16:00 to 18:00, followed by a networking reception, at the North Convention Centre of IFEMA Madrid. Doors and registration will open at 15:30. Please arrive early to secure your seat.
More information, programme and registration is available here. If you haven’t received the registration code yet, please contact Europatat Secretariat as soon as possible.
The organisers would like to thank all sponsors supporting this first edition of the International Symposium of Potato, whose involvement reflects the strong engagement of companies from across the potato value chain and is helping to make this new international meeting point for the sector possible.
