INTERPOM 2026 to Bring Together 330 Exhibitors in Kortrijk Under the Banner of Resilience
INTERPOM 2026 will gather 330 exhibitors from 15 countries at Kortrijk Xpo, Belgium, from 29 November to 1 December — with the sector arriving in a very different mood than at the confident 2024 edition.
From Sunday 29 November to Tuesday 1 December 2026, INTERPOM will bring the international potato industry together at Kortrijk Xpo in Belgium. The exhibition floor has been sold out since late August, with 330 exhibitors from 15 countries covering the entire potato supply chain: seed potatoes, soil cultivation machinery, harvesters and crop protection, precision agriculture, storage systems, sorting, peeling and cutting equipment, packaging lines, and the trade and marketing of fresh and processed potatoes.
A changed mood. The theme this year is “Growing resilience in a changing world.” The previous edition, in autumn 2024, drew a record 24,000 visitors, nearly a third of them from outside Belgium, representing 59 countries — a sign of the confidence running through the sector at the time. Two years later, with abundant supply and weak free-market prices for processing potatoes, growers and buyers are navigating a different set of pressures, among them geopolitical uncertainty and rising costs.
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Christophe Vermeulen, CEO of Belgapom — the professional association for the Belgian potato trade and processing industry — will moderate the event’s sessions, which have been organized around the challenges the sector now faces: climate resilience, water scarcity and competitive pressure on processors.
Three days, three themes. The programme is built around three central themes. Sunday 29 November, “Resilience of Supply: Potato of the Future,” examines how potatoes can stay climate-resilient and economically viable while meeting processor and consumer requirements. Monday 30 November, “Resilience of Water: Water Management of the Future,” focuses on potato cultivation and the use of increasingly scarce water. Tuesday 1 December, “Resilience of Operations: Factory of the Future,” looks at how processors can stay competitive amid regulatory change, geopolitical uncertainty, rising costs and technological developments. Each day opens with a morning keynote followed by an afternoon panel discussion with specialists from across the chain.
Why Kortrijk matters this year. INTERPOM is the sector’s contract-season barometer: deals, machinery orders and variety choices made on this floor shape the 2027 campaign. With free-market prices weak and a smaller Northwest European harvest failing to lift them, the conversation in Kortrijk is likely to focus less on expansion and more on survival economics — storage efficiency, energy costs, and varieties that tolerate a harsher climate. For growers weighing 2027 contracts, some of the most valuable conversations at this edition may happen not on stage but at the stands of storage and sorting suppliers, where margin is actually recovered.
Sources: FreshPlaza; PotatoPro.
