The genetic diversity that our Nordic native farm animal breeds carry is invaluable. Over hundreds of years, they have developed desirable traits that make them robust and well adapted to the Nordic climate and way of life. Native breeds have a wider genetic base than commercial breeds and great potential for future food production in a sustainable way. For example, research shows that milk from Nordic native cattle breeds is among the best in the world when it comes to cheesemaking, and also contain valuable nutrients that could be used to develop bioactive food components. If further investigated, the genetic diversity of the native breeds can help adapt the Nordic agriculture to the needs of the market, climate change and new production systems. However, many of the about 140 farm animal breeds native to the Nordic countries are today at risk of becoming endangered. NordGen Farm Animals is working to reverse that trend. 

During 2021, NordGen Farm Animals has worked in several projects, networks and increased communications on its activities and established several networks that serve as a platform for discussing joint research applications and projects. The increased communication and knowledge sharing with stakeholders supports the current strategic goal to proactively strengthen NordGen as a Nordic knowledge center for genetic resources. 

An important receipt on the successful revitalization process is the fact that FAO has asked NordGen Farm Animals to co-coordinate and contribute to an updated version of their cryopreservation guidelines.

NordGen gathered the results from each work package in the EU-project “Innovative Management of Animal Genetic resources” (IMAGE) and processed the material as recommendations. In 2021, the FAO cryopreservation guidelines was finalized and NordGen Farm Animals continued working on a webinar series based on the FAO guidelines that will be arranged in 2022.

In 2021, NordGen Farm Animals continued the ambitious task of creating portraits of all the Nordic native animal breeds. The portraits contain information about each breed and its current status and are being written with support from the different breeding organisations in the Nordic countries. As we have some 140 different animal breeds this is a time-consuming and resource demanding project, but it fills a void and constitute information asked for as there is no other place where information about our Nordic native animal breeds can be found all in one place. During 2021, 15 breed stories was published on NordGen's website, 8 cattle breeds and 7 horse breeds from all Nordic countries.

Much of NordGen Farm Animal’s resources in 2021 were devoted to work in the project “Nordic Mountain Cattle – Cultural heritage and Genetics” (3MC). The project utilizes an innovative approach for combining several academic disciplines to give us a more nuanced picture of the history, culture and heritage of the mountain cattle breeds in the northern parts of Finland, Norway and Sweden. For example, the 3MC-team worked on preparing a museum exhibition for display in 2022 and paper was published in the journal Animal. In this study a questionnaire was sent to all registered keepers of native breeds in Finland. This survey clarified their reasons for keeping native breeds and their ideas for improving governance structures and practices. The results show that genetic and cultural values are recognised in several documents and programmes, but farmers need to be engaged more in the design of support schemes and practices. The project is co- funded by Interreg Nord, Lapin liitto and Region Norrbotten and running 2020-2022. Read more in Projects.

In 2021, The NordFrost Network was started with two seminars. The network includes a broad group of stakeholders enabling people from different backgrounds to meet, share experiences and create joint efforts to the conservation of native farm animal and fish breeds. This will contribute to Nordic food security and self-sufficiency, as well as conserving the unique biodiversity of the numerous native breeds found in the Nordic region. Read more in Projects.

New funding was also granted for the horse project: “Genomic Characterization as a Tool Towards Sustainable Breeding of the Nordic Native Horse Breeds”. This project will be running 2022-2024 and is in collaboration with SLU, NMBU and the Norwegian Horse Center.

NordGen Farm Animals is a service and knowledge centre working to conserve and promote sustainable management of the animal genetic resources in the Nordic region.  Contributing to the Nordic countries’ own work by promoting the genetic, economic, cultural, historical and social values that come with a wide variety of different animals in Nordic agriculture.

NordGen Farm Animals’ activities are providing tools and advice to preserve the genetic variation in living populations (in situ) but also to establish cryo-storage of genetic material (ex situ). Through a variety of projects, NordGen Farm Animals are working to initiate research and development projects related to categorization, conservation, management and sustainable use of animal genetic resources.

NordGen Farm Animals also organizes workshops, seminars and courses for various Nordic stakeholders and promotes good collaboration between them. Actively distributes information about animal genetic resources and partake in international networks. Works to promote sustainable breeding practices and good principles for fair trade in animal genetic material.

Nordic forests provide wood and bioenergy, protection against wind and erosion, biodiversity and is a carbon dioxide sink. The trees planted today will grow for decades to come but climate change can hit our forests hard, and we must deal with the emergence of new pests and diseases that haven’t existed in the Nordic region before. Within the forest industry there is a need for strong, resilient forests in the future and an important key to this resilience is genetic diversity. Since different trees carry different genes, chances are that some of them can resist the new threats. For example, the ashdieback disease is today threatening the Nordic ashes. But by identifying particular trees that carry resistance genes, the species could be saved. NordGen Forest is working to exchange knowledge about these kind of issues in the Nordic forest community. 

2021 was as the previous year marked by the COVID-19 pandemic. All plans for meetings on site had to be held as digital events. During the year, NordGen Forest extended the experience in the digital arena and published a statistics report giving an overview of the use of seeds and seedlings in the Nordic region.  

The first NordGen Forest event in 2021, thematic day “New Technology in Forest Plant Production”, was organized on 24 March. Just as in 2020, the thematic day was held as a video conference due to the covid-19 pandemic. Four lecturers were invited from SLU, the company ARBOS and the foundation Det norske Skogfrøverk. The presentations evolved around cuttings propagation and plant production using the method somatic embryogenesis. About 70 people joined the thematic day. 

The NordGen Forest 50 years anniversary conference (originally to be held in 2020) was planned for 2021 but the conference on site had to be postponed once again due to COVID-19. About 90 persons participated during NordGen Forest’s digital conference which was arranged during 22 to 23 September 2021. Climate changes – and the major challenges in forestry – went like a red thread through the conference program gathering 15 lecturers. Presentations by young researchers were also given special attention in the conference program. 

All meetings in the NordGen Forest Regeneration Council and in the NordGen Forest Working Group on Genetic Resources were held in a digital form. The Working Group meeting in November was held back-to-back with a seminar on forest genetic resources. 

Access to statistics is needed to understand the development in forestry. In October 2021, NordGen Forest published the report Statistics: Forest Seeds and Plants in the Nordic Region. The report aims at giving an overview of the use of seeds and seedlings in the Nordic countries, with key statistics from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. This statistics report is the first in a series that is expected to be published in the coming years. 

A total of 14 applications (6 male and 7 female and 1 NA) were received by the deadline on 15 February 2020. Eight of them were granted. The grants (in total NOK 100.000) were given to travels and field work, supporting activities in several Nordic countries. In 2021, a large part of the applications came from Iceland, five out of eight approved applications were Icelandic. 

NordGen Forest addresses conservation and sustainable use of forest genetic resources, by being a forum for researchers, practitioners and managers working on forest genetic resources, seeds, planting stock and regeneration. We facilitate flow of scientific information and knowhow between these groups.

NordGen Forest is focusing on knowledge exchange about conservation and sustainable use of forest genetic resources, forest seed and plant production and regeneration of forests. By disseminating knowledge and experience between the various actors and to the public, we aim to support better plant production and better regeneration methods of forest, as well as conservation of forest genetic resources. We conduct various types of projects and information activities.

NordGen Forest consists of two bodies: The NordGen Forest Regeneration Council, which meets twice a year and the NordGen Forest Working Group on Genetic Resources, which meets once a year. The main activities arranged by NordGen Forest are our conferences and thematic days. In cooperation with Nordic Forest Research (SNS), NordGen Forest also grants scholarships to enhance knowledge and competences in the area of seed, plants and forest regeneration.

NordGen’s genebank is a joint plant genebank for all the Nordic countries. It conserves and documents seeds and living plant samples of Nordic heritage and of importance for the Nordic countries. The genebank ensures that the genetic resources that underpin our food supply are both secure in the long-term for future generations and available in the short term for use by farmers, gardeners, plant breeders, and for research and development.

The seed and plant collections of NordGen are important to ensure that agricultural and horticultural plants do not become endangered or extinct over time. Because these plants may contain genes which enables them to resist diseases, have enhanced nutrition composition or survive in changing or harsh climate environments. The services of the genebank are a common public good. The plant genetic resources stored in our genebank are available for research, education, and breeding purposes. 

The genebank contains about 34.000 seed samples from 438 different plant species. These species carry a wide palette of different genetic traits that constitutes the green infrastructure for research and development of a sustainable agriculture and green growth. 

Laboratories
NordGen has a well-equipped seed laboratory for quality assessment of seed samples and follows the FAO’s international genebank standards. This includes, among others, species identification, seed drying, seed cleaning, estimation of thousand grain weight and seed viability. The molecular laboratory provides facilities to prepare and conduct DNA extractions, do PCR-based marker analyses as well as prepare samples for more complex downstream analyses. The in vitro laboratory provides sterile working conditions and incubators for tissue culture or germination in controlled light and temperature. A room for cryo-preservation is planned for in the new building and will enable safe long-term storage of different kind of samples.

Growth Facilities
NordGen greenhouse and field team has experience with regeneration of a very broad variation of agricultural and wild plants. This includes valuable knowledge about specific requirements of sowing, transplanting, isolation, fertilization, watering, weeding, winter storage and seed harvest. The team can also assist in recording plant descriptors during the regeneration.

Due to historic accumulation of new material to the collection of plant genetic resources at NordGen, a backlog of accessions which needs handling to secure long- term conservation has been built up 2008 -2016. To further expand NordGen’s regeneration activities to reduce the backlog, the Board of NordGen adopted in 2019 a project plan to eliminate the backlog problem by end of 2024. The project named ‘No regeneration backlog by 2024’ is funded by an extraordinary grant from the Nordic Council of Ministers. In 2021 the project showed good progress and all expected goals were met.