Who is taking part in Nitrogen 2026?

We are looking forward to welcoming nearly 100 participants from 20 countries, including the USA, the UK, France, Italy, Norway, Chile, New Zealand, Australia and Japan. The two largest delegations, each comprising 20 people, are from Germany and China. The programme, featuring nine keynote speeches, covers six thematic areas, and brings together numerous world-leading scientists in the field of nitrogen supply, as well as a strong group of up-and-coming talent.

Why is this topic relevant?

Nitrogen is essential for the yield and quality of crops. However, the production of nitrogen fertiliser is heavily dependent on fossil fuels, leads to greenhouse gas emissions and makes supply chains - as is currently the case in the Strait of Hormuz - highly vulnerable to geopolitical upheavals.

At the same time, crops tend to use nitrogen inefficiently, meaning that a large proportion leaches out of agricultural soils, pollutes water bodies and disrupts natural ecosystems. This makes nitrogen fertilisers costly from both an economic and an environmental perspective.

What will be presented and discussed?

Over the course of four days at the conference, we will discuss the latest findings on the genetic factors that regulate nitrogen nutrition in plants. The topics range from nitrogen uptake in the roots, through transport and signal transduction, to metabolism and the final storage of nitrogen in seeds.

The presentations will focus on the molecular players, including nitrogen transporters, transcription factors and signalling networks, as well as root system architecture. A key focus will be on how root exudates, rhizosphere microbiomes, and plants help to stabilise nitrogen in the soil and make it available.

We will also see how systems biology and AI are accelerating research, and learn the latest on the breeding and development of crops that utilise nitrogen more efficiently. The aim must be to harness these scientific findings to achieve significantly more sustainable agriculture.

What still needs to be done just before the event begins?

Despite months of preparation, there are still things that need to be sorted out. These include printing the conference proceedings, as well as testing the technical equipment and procedures in the lecture theatre. We also want to set up a WhatsApp group with all the organisers and support teams, so that we can react quickly if any problems arise. Personally, I’m delighted that, after all this preparation, things will finally get underway on Sunday evening at the ‘Schlossmühle’ in Quedlinburg with Nicolaus von Wirén’s welcome address and Wim de Vries’s keynote speech.

What are you particularly looking forward to?

I’m looking forward to learning more about new molecular mechanisms involved in nitrogen uptake from the soil and its efficient distribution to nitrogen-dependent processes in plant cells. I’m also keen to see how researchers are breeding and testing crops that deliver the same yield with less nitrogen.

As for the keynote speakers, I’m particularly looking forward to hearing from Chengcai Chu from China. He is one of the leading researchers in my specific field of research, and also worked at the IPK in the mid-1990s. I’ve never actually met him in person before.

Apart from 40 talks and 30 poster presentations, what else is on the programme?

We’ll be organising guided tours of Quedlinburg and Wernigerode, and showcasing our outstanding research infrastructure during tours of the IPK - from the Genebank and sequencing to the micro-phenomics platform, and from the PhenoSphere to NMR technology. The campus tours will be followed by a barbecue at the IPK.

Further information:

https://events.ipk-gatersleben.de/nitrogen2026/start

The feature article on nitrogen from the IPK Journal:

https://story.ipk-gatersleben.de/2026-01-IPKJournal-Stickstoff_en