A Decade of Cooperation and Future Perspectives for the ISHS Working Group Southeastern and Eastern Europe Vegetables and Potatoes

At the Business Meeting of the X Southeastern and Eastern Europe Symposium on Vegetables and Potatoes (X-SEEVP-2026), held from 17-21 May 2026 in Chania, Crete, Greece, participants reviewed the activities of the ISHS Working Group Southeastern and Eastern Europe Vegetables and Potatoes and discussed future directions. During the meeting, Prof. Dr. Giedrė Samuolienė of the Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry (LAMMC), Lithuania, was elected Chair of the Working Group for the next term. She succeeds Prof. Dr. Nazim Gruda.
Under the chairmanship of Prof. Dr. Nazim Gruda (2017-2026), the Working Group sustained its visibility within the ISHS community and strengthened cooperation among institutions across the region. A series of successful symposia, continued collaboration with FAO, and active engagement by members helped maintain a stable, functioning scientific network throughout this period.
The period 2017-2026 represented a particularly active phase in the development of the Working Group. During this time, the group continued to function as a platform for scientific exchange, professional cooperation, and regional networking in vegetable and potato research across Southeastern and Eastern Europe. Despite financial and organizational constraints in several participating countries, the Working Group maintained regular activities and ensured continuous engagement of researchers, academics, and practitioners in protected cultivation and related fields.
A central feature of this period was the organization of a series of regional symposia, including the VII South-Eastern Europe Symposium on Vegetables and Potatoes in Maribor, Slovenia (2017), the VIII Symposium in Ohrid, North Macedonia (2021, held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic), the IX Symposium in Bucharest, Romania (2023), and the X Southeastern and Eastern Europe Symposium on Vegetables and Potatoes in Chania, Crete, Greece (2026). These events provided an important platform for presenting scientific results, exchanging experiences, and strengthening regional and international collaboration.
Another key milestone was the publication in 2017 of the FAO guide Good Agricultural Practices for Greenhouse Vegetable Production in South East European Countries – Principles for Sustainable Intensification of Smallholder Farms. This publication supported knowledge transfer and contributed to the dissemination of improved production practices in greenhouse vegetable systems across the region.
Cooperation with the FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia in Budapest further strengthened the Working Group’s activities by supporting participation, capacity building, and scientific exchange. This collaboration was particularly important for researchers from countries with limited financial resources, enabling broader regional participation and strengthening professional networks.
During this period, the Working Group also ensured continuity of its activities during challenging circumstances, including the COVID-19 pandemic, by maintaining communication and adapting its scientific exchange formats. In addition, the group contributed to strengthening regional collaboration and supporting the involvement of early-career scientists in international scientific networks.
Looking ahead, the next Southeastern and Eastern Europe Symposium on Vegetables and Potatoes will be held in Kaunas, Lithuania, in 2029, hosted by the Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry (LAMMC) (https://ishs.org/symposium/864/). The symposium will continue the tradition of fostering scientific exchange and collaboration among researchers and stakeholders from the region and beyond.
Furthermore, during the Business Meeting in Chania, participants expressed their support for organizing the subsequent symposium in Türkiye in 2032, following a proposal presented by Assoc. Prof. Hatice Filiz Boyacı (Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Horticulture, Rize, Türkiye, and the Middle Black Sea Transitional Zone Agricultural Research Institute, Tokat, Türkiye). The proposal will be submitted for formal approval at the upcoming ISHS meetings in Kyoto.
Looking to the future, continued cooperation among researchers, institutions, international organizations, and stakeholders will remain essential for strengthening regional participation, encouraging young scientists and practitioners, and advancing innovation, sustainability, and resilience in vegetable and potato production systems across Southeastern and Eastern Europe.
Authors
Prof. Dr. Gordana Popsimonova
Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, North Macedonia
Convener of the VIII South-Eastern Europe Symposium on Vegetables and Potatoes (Ohrid, North Macedonia, 2021)
Prof. Dr. Božidar Benko
University of Zagreb, Croatia
Convener of the VI Balkan Symposium on Vegetables and Potatoes (Zagreb, Croatia, 2014)
Prof. Dr. Dimitrios Savvas
Agricultural University of Athens, Greece
Convener of the X Southeastern and Eastern Europe Symposium on Vegetables and Potatoes (Chania, Crete, Greece, 2026)