PhD School on Advancesin intercropping and stripcropping
Intercropping and strip cropping are the next frontiers for diversifying agriculture and increasing its productivity, resource use efficiency and resilience to abiotic and biotic stresses in a sustainable manner. Given the challenges of biodiversity decline and climate change it might well be that intercropping and strip cropping are two of the solutions to strengthen the resilience of cropping systems to these environmental threats and sustain food security.
This postgraduate course focuses on how intercropping and strip cropping promote productivity, resource use efficiency and resilience of agriculture. It will also consider the challenges of making intercropping and strip cropping both technically and economically feasible in modern farming. International experts in cropping system diversification from Europe and China will highlight the state of the art in intercropping and strip cropping research and its implementation in practice.
Themes
- Intercropping adoption (socio-economic drivers)
- System design (intercropping, strip cropping, agroforestry; strengths and challenges)
- Pest, disease and weed control (mechanisms and effectiveness)
- Resource capture and plant-soil processes, including microbial interactions
- Plant trait combinations for intercrop performance (including modelling)
- Sunday afternoon 11 Jan. – Friday morning 16 Jan.2026
- At the edge of Ede (near Wageningen), next to a forest
- Interesting field of (almost) confirmed speakers:
- Maria Finckh, Li Long, Luuk Croijmans, Lammert Bastiaans, Sabine Seidel, Thomas Doring, Marie Zwetsloot, Ellis Hoffland, Benjamin Delory, Jochem Evers, Wopke van der Werf
- Interactive activities, including discussion with a farmer practicing strip cropping (CropMix project)
- Programme to be finalized soon
- Fee: €870,- (including full board for 5 nights at de Bosrand: De Bosrand)
- Website: Intercropping as a means to sustainable agriculture | PE&RC