Representatives from the media are cordially invited to a press conference on the Tropentag at noon on Wednesday, September 10, 2025, to be held at the information desk in the Poppelsdorf Campus lecture hall center, Friedrich-Hirzebruch-Allee 5. Media representatives are then also welcome to attend the event’s official opening at 1 pm, which will be led by the Rector of the University of Bonn, Professor Michael Hoch.
Europe’s largest international conference on sustainable land use, food security and tropical agriculture, the Tropentag is held at a different European university every year. In 2025, it is being run in partnership with the Center for Development Research (ZEF) and the Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation (INRES) at the University of Bonn as well as the Council for Tropical and Subtropical Agricultural Research (ATSAF). “We want to encourage the next generation of researchers to bring their ideas to the table and work together to find answers to the urgent questions of our times,” says one of the organizers, Professor Mathias Becker from INRES.
Tackling the full spectrum of topics
The overarching theme for Tropentag 2025 is “Reconciling land system changes with planetary health.” This is inspired by the growing challenge of striking a balance between, on the one hand, agricultural developments fueled e.g. by intensification, expansion of farmland or urbanization and an improvement in global food security and, on the other, efforts to protect the environment and mitigate climate change.
Tropentag 2025 will cover a wide range of content, from climate-resilient crop cultivation and livestock farming through to soil, water and biodiversity protection and questions of sustainable land use, food systems and health. The underlying economic and political environment, new technologies and social processes of innovation will also be discussed.
As well as the development of technology-driven solutions, however, the experts will also be debating how to make agricultural systems fairer. The aim is to amplify a gender-sensitive perspective in a targeted way and highlight the role played by young people, women and marginalized groups. Thus the Tropentag sees itself as an inclusive and diverse event that fosters candid dialogue among researchers, practitioners and policymakers.
“There’s nothing else out there like the Tropentag, because it links research with practice,” explains Professor Christian Borgemeister from the ZEF at the University of Bonn. “It’s a forum where the academic and scientific community, together with figures from politics and society, formulate sustainable development strategies for the future.” As well as being a meeting place for seasoned experts, therefore, the conference is also—and in particular—somewhere the next generation of researchers can come to learn and exchange ideas.
Program and highlights
The Tropentag 2025 has a hybrid format, meaning that all the presentations can be watched online as well as on site. On September 9, which is one day before the conference actually starts, participants will have the opportunity to get involved in various workshops that will take a close look at topics such as sustainable agriculture and innovation and that are designed to set the tone for the symposium. One highlight will be the conferral of the Hans H. Ruthenberg Graduate Award, which the Foundation fiat panis presents to exceptional young researchers at an early stage in their careers who are making an important contribution to sustainable development in agriculture through their work.
About the ZEF and INRES
The Center for Development Research (ZEF) at the University of Bonn is a leading scientific institution in international development research and tackles questions relating to global agriculture, resource management and rural development. Meanwhile, the Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation (INRES) coordinates research and teaching in the field of crop cultivation and the protection of natural resources.
About the Council for Tropical and Subtropical Agricultural Research
The ATSAF promotes academic dialogue and cooperation in tropical and subtropical research and is an important partner in organizing the Tropentag.
About the University of Bonn—a University of Excellence
The University of Bonn is now home to eight Clusters of Excellence, making it the most successful University of Excellence in Germany. With some 30,000 students, 6,000 doctoral students, 750 professors and 6,500 other members of staff, it is also one of the country’s largest universities and holds one of its strongest track records for research. It is regularly placed among the world’s top 100 universities in international rankings. Aside from being an integral part of some strong disciplines, the researchers at the University of Bonn also work across faculty and discipline boundaries on finding solutions to the big challenges facing society in six Transdisciplinary Research Areas. They secure some €205 million in third-party funding every year for their research.
The Tropentag 2025 website
https://www.tropentag.de/
