We live in a time when climate change is affecting our ability to grow our own food. Drought, floods and higher mean temperatures means that developing new plant varieties that can withstand the new challenges are more important than ever. But no plant breeding is possible without the green infrastructure stored in the DNA of seeds. And not even advanced gene technology can replace the natural genetic diversity that we find in our wild, semi-wild and cultivated crops. The most important task of NordGen Plants is to safeguard and facilitate the sustainable use of plant genetic resources that are important for agriculture in the Nordic countries. By doing so, we create conditions for a more environmentally friendly agriculture that can better withstand diseases, climate change and at the same time produce more nutritious food that corresponds to the consumers’ demands.

The research conducted at NordGen Plants is mostly carried out within different projects. Read more about this under the section “Projects". 

NordGen is part of and arranges several different meetings and seminars for the Nordic stakeholders concerning plant genetic resources. 2023 was again a year filled with many interesting meetings in Alnarp and in other locations in the Nordic region. During the year, NordGen continued to experience an increased demand for knowledge on utilization of the plant genetic resources from both public and private research programs, that reaches out to NordGen for collaboration within utilization of the genebank collection.

One such current example is the collaborative project on the Nordic oat collection between NordGen, Oatly, Lantmännen and ScanOats. Another ongoing collaboration is the Nordic flax project between NordGen, Skånelin, Science Park Borås and the project "1 KVM LIN". In this project 30 Nordic flax varieties were cultivated during 2023 to find out which varieties that are suitable for fiber respectivley oil production. Many other Nordic projects were also ongoing during the year in NordGen's different plant working groups.
 

Preserving and distributing genetic resources requires international collaboration, and the foundation for this work is laid out in the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), ratified by all the Nordic governments. To NordGen, as part of the global genebank community, international collaboration is crucial. Forums for this work is the Governing Body to the ITPGRFA and the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (CGRFA), The European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources (ECPGR) and the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the CBD. 

To ensure the establishment of a new infrastructure for backup storage of the Nordic plant seed collection, NordGen was granted more than 8 million DKK from the Danish Novo Nordisk Foundation. The infrastructure will improve conservation, long-term viability and characterization of plant seeds and can contribute to scientific progress in future crop production as it will allow for an extensive overview and description of plant seeds for the benefit of researchers, educators, and breeders in the Nordic countries and worldwide. 

A project plan was prepared for repackaging and quality assurance of all samples and work on this was completed during 2023. This project will lead to an increased value and a considerable improvement of the Nordic seed collection and its safety.

NordGen Plants is the largest department. It is divided in two, with the genebank maintaining the Nordic seed collection of about 34 000 seed samples and the research department working in a close relationship with public institutions, plant breeding companies and other organizations in order to identify green solutions for a more sustainable society.

A central part of NordGen Plants is the seven different Working Groups on plant genetic resources that together with the national programs constitute the very core of NordGen’s network of Nordic experts. They are an important link between the Nordic and the national technical work within a specific species group. The working groups contribute with insights to each Nordic country’s operations with genetic resources and is also important for knowledge exchange and network contacts.

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 160 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 2023, NordGen Farm Animals has worked in several projects and continued in maintaining networks that serve as a platform for discussing joint research applications and increased communications on its activities. The increased communication and knowledge sharing  with stakeholders supports the current strategic goal to proactively strengthen NordGen’ s position as a Nordic knowledge center for genetic resources.  

Several years of cooperation between FAO and NordGen culminated in 2023 when the book "Innovations in cryoconservation of animal genetic resources" was published together with over 40 international authors. This publication integrates extensive research from the EU HORIZON project 'IMAGE Innovative Management of Animal Genetic Resources'. It provides an overview of cryoconservation method as maintaining animal genetic resources, including technical specifications, germplasm types, and biological principles across different species. Additionally, it incorporates the latest insights into sanitary interventions, data management strategies, legal considerations, and approaches to capacity building. 

Through an ERFP ad-hoc action ("European Regional Focal Point for Animal Genetic Resources") – we expanded to a new and broader network in 2022 – "The Network for native horse breeds in the Baltic Sea region and Northern Europe". The network's primary goal is to strengthen cooperation in the entire Northern European region by seeking new regional projects, hosting workshops and promoting the exchange of best practices between national programs. The network is committed to creating material for stakeholders’ training and promotional activities. This involves producing content highlighting these breeds' historical importance and value to local areas, benefiting local businesses. In addition, the network aims to increase visibility and appreciation among the general public. 

 

In 2023, the network expanded to include new member countries, notably the UK. Additionally, the European Regional Focal Point (ERFP) awarded the network a grant to host a physical meeting in 2024. To further strengthen the network activities, an online meeting was held on October 25th, where participants agreed on continuation, such as collection of missing data and planning another in-person meeting. 

 

In 2023, 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 organizations in the Nordic countries. As we have some 160 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 curated information about our Nordic native animal breeds can be found all in one place.  

The goal of the project "NordMeat – characterizing the meat of indigenous Nordic breeds" was to gather information to understand the special features of meat production of Nordic native breeds. Until now, traits such as growth potential and slaughter quality compared to commercial breeds have remained largely uncharted. The NordMeat survey showed that the carcass characteristics of native breeds have comparative advantages in an extensive feeding system. They may also be more successful in value-added markets than mainstream beef production. These results were published in 2023 in a scientific article. 

A significant part of the work conducted during 2023 in the farm animal section was carried out in various projects. Read more about the projects "NordFrost", "NaNo Horse" and "Hästnäring i Norden" in the chapter "Projects".

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. 

For NordGen Forest, the year 2023 was again a year filled with fruitful meetings on site in several Nordic countries. For example, a successful forest conference was arranged in Ringsted, Denmark.

The first NordGen Forest event in 2023 was a thematic day organized on 13 April in Mógilsá, Iceland. About 50 persons participated during the day of presentations. A lesson learned from the discussions was that nursery owners, planters and the forestry service need more communication.  

 

The annual NordGen Forest conference was arranged on 4-5 September 2023 in Ringsted, Denmark. About 100 persons participated in the conference that was titled "Forests of the Future”. During the first day, 10 lecturers gave presentations covering many important topics, for example tree species selection in times of climate change and the potential for new species. During the second day of the conference, the participants were offered to take part in forest excursions at Bregentved Estates to see, among other things, stands of oak and sycamore (Acer pseudoplantanus) as well as at the beech forests around Sorø Academy.

 

All meetings in the NordGen Forest Regeneration Council and in the NordGen Forest Working Group on Genetic Resources were arranged as planned. In August, the Working Group gathered in Southern Norway for meetings, forest excursions and a seminar held at the County governors office in Arendal, Norway. 

A total of 24 applications (8 from Sweden, 6 from Finland, 2 from Iceland, 2 from Denmark, 1 from N0rway and 5 from countries outside the Nordic region) were received by the deadline on 15 February 2023. Six of them were granted, three out of the approved applications were Finnish, two were Swedish and one from Denmark. The grants (in total NOK 100.000) were given to travels and field work, supporting activities in several Nordic countries. During 2023, the grants were for example used to organize a webinar, attend the IBFRA conference in Helsinki and to make a research visit to Umeå Plant Science Center.

 

In 2023, NordGen also published the report Statistics: Forest Seeds and Plants in the Nordic Region – Version 2023. The publication compiles statistics and information on forest seed and plant material from the entire Nordic region provided by NordGen Forest Regeneration Council. The report is the second edition in an ongoing series in which the first was published in 2021. The new edition is updated with statistics from the years 2020 and 2021, but also contains information on more forest tree species and is expanded with additional statistics categories.

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 consists of two bodies: The NordGen Forest Regeneration Council, which meets twice a year and organize  our conferences and thematic days, and the NordGen Forest Working Group on Genetic Resources, which meets once a year. 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 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.