For more than three decades, starting in the early 1990s, the World Potato Congress Inc. has made its way around the globe, providing an avenue for networking and educational opportunities focused on all topics related to potatoes.  Momentum and attendance have been building around the side meetings and informal discussions held at the, now biennial, Congress event. While not advertised as official congress meetings, during the Adelaide, Australia Congress in 2024, global networking group organizers who had booked meeting rooms, quickly saw these rooms fill, with extra chairs brought in as interest grew. 

“We left Australia with the request from many of our partners to keep the momentum going, tasking us to look for a way to formalize these networking structures.” says WPC president Peter VanderZaag. “Strategic planning by the WPC Inc. directors and international advisors in 2025, under the guidance of WPC executive director, Ellen Kouwenberg, has helped develop this further.” 

Emerging from this comes the official launch of Global Potato Thematic Working Groups, designed to create a more formalized platform for ongoing collaboration during and between Congresses, deepening WPC’s impact in mission-aligned areas, and connecting stakeholders around shared priorities.   

At the 2026 Kenya Congress, additional meetings are now planned to advance these topics, These groups include International Potato Research Collaborative Framework (IPRCF), Potato Aeroponics Network, Apical Rooted Cuttings Network, International Marketing Group and Global Potato Sustainability.

Beginning at the Congress in October, these groups will be formalized with an opportunity for membership and participation via a SharePoint platform allowing opportunity for global collaboration on education, information sharing and project work on an on-going basis.

Leading the charge in these formalized groups will be some familiar and well respected voices in the global potato world. For example, Canada’s Greg Donald, general manager of the PEI Potato Board, is part of the International Marketing Group. 

Registration for these meetings can be found within the Congress registration process: https://wpc2026kenya.com/registration/

Source:  World Potato Congress April 8, 2026 news release