dr. LS (Lotte) Woittiez

I am a Dutch Assistant Professor working on tropical perennial crops and cropping systems (specifically oil palm and cooca) at the Plant Production Systems Group. 

Current role
Currently I work on two major projects: The CocoaSoils project (www.cocoasoils.org) related to integrated soil fertility in cocoa, and the OilClips project which is about Ganoderma boninense and Phytophthora palmivora in oil palm.

I supervise several PhD and MSc students on topics related to tropical perennial crops and agroforestry. 

My research is multi-disciplinary, focusing on the ecophysiological, agronomic and socio-economic aspects of plant production. I prefer to collaborate with NGO and industry partners to deliver impact. 

I also teach in several courses, including Functional Agricultural Resource Management (PPS13806), Agroforestry (FEM32306), and Analysing Sustainability of Farming Systems (PPS30806).

Research history 

From 2021 to 2023 I worked on a project with the centre for Crop Systems Analysis (CSA) and McCain to set up the Advanced Agronomy course, together with colleagues Renske Hijbeek and Bert Rijk from PPS. In addition, we set up a new research project on modelling the effects of high temperatures and drought on potato.

From 2018 to 2020 I worked as postdoc on the CocoaSoils project. The research focused on setting up large-scale fertiliser trials to unravel key questions about cocoa nutrition, ISFM, and possibilities for improving yields. 

For my PhD thesis I worked with a number of oil palm farmers in Sumatra and Kalimantan to measure the impact of improved fertilisation on yield, and to determine the time-lag between investment (in more/better fertilisers) and returns (increased yield). We know that oil palm needs at least two years to really respond to fertilisers, and we are trying to quantify the effects of this time lag on profitability and willingness to intensify.

I was trained in Wageningen in Plant Sciences and Plant Biotechnology.