World Potato Congress Hosting Information for WPC 2030 (15th) and WPC 2032 (16th)

The World Potato Congress Inc. is now calling for Expressions of Interest (EOI) from parties interested in hosting the 15th and 16th World Potato Congresses to be held in 2030 and 2032.

In 1993 the first edition of the World Potato Congress was held in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. This initiative, to gather potato professionals from all over the world, was a success from the start illustrating that all links of the global potato chain felt the need to meet and share ideas and knowledge promoting the potato. The World Potato Congress continued as a triennial congress, and has since moved to a biennial Congress, marking its 30th anniversary in 2023.

The World Potato Congress, which gathers approximately 1000 delegates and partners from over 40 countries, not only provides a tremendous platform for promoting the potato industry in the host country but also allows for worldwide promotion of agriculture, business and tourism for the host country.

Since its inception in 1993, the World Potato Congress has been held 12 times with the first congress being held in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. Other congress locations past and upcoming include:

• 1994 Harrogate, England
• 1997 Durban, South Africa
• 2000 Amsterdam, the Netherlands
• 2004 Kunming, China
• 2006 Boise, Idaho, United States of America
• 2009 Christchurch, New Zealand
• 2012 Edinburg, Scotland
• 2015 Yanqing, China
• 2018 Cusco, Peru
• 2022 Dublin, Ireland
• 2024 Adelaide, Australia

Upcoming:

• 2026 Naivasha, Kenya
• 2028 Ghent, Belgium

NEW for 2030 and 2032

Due to the overwhelming interest in hosting the 2030 and 2032 World Potato Congresses, the EOI has been established to mitigate the need for considerable resources often invested in the development of official proposals by interested parties to host our Congress.

These EOI submissions will be reviewed, and the submissions scoring the highest will be requested to submit a proposal to the WPC Board of Directors with more detailed information in a multipaged proposal format.

Important: Eligible submissions:

EOI’s will only be considered if they are supported by a potato industry affiliated organization. Bids coming directly from professional conference organizers (PCOs) who have not linked to the potato sector in their region are normally not given consideration.

Timelines

• EOI Questionnaire period: October 2025-June 30, 2026
• Decision on shortlist of those moving to RFP stage: July-August 2026
• Deadline for RFP: November 15, 2026
• RFP shortlist decision: December 2026
• Site Visits to evaluate top 6-8 shortlisted: anticipated - February-May 2027

• Board decision: anticipated - July 2027 (winner of the 15th Congress bid to attend pass the flag ceremony in Gent, Belgium November 2028). (winner of the 16th Congress bid to attend the 15th Congress ceremony).