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ABOUT NORDGEN

Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen) is the Nordic Knowledge Center for plant, animal and forest genetic resources as well as the Nordic genebank for seeds and plants. The institution was established in 2008 as a merger between the Nordic Genebank (established 1979), Nordic Genebank for Farm Animals (established 1983) and the Nordic Council for Forest Reproductive Material (NSFP) (established 1970).
As a knowledge center, research institution and genebank, NordGen's mission is to safeguard the Nordic genetic resources and facilitate the sustainable use for agriculture, horticulture and forestry, for current and future generations. The mission also includes providing knowledge and genetic material to facilitate sustainable food and feed production and other biobased solutions in the Nordic region’s changing climate.
NordGen also promotes collaboration between farm animals, plants, forest and the environmental area as well as disseminates knowledge and raises awareness about genetic resources. NordGen also fosters management and competences within the three disciplines.
NordGen provides technical advice and information to decision makers in the Nordic countries in national and Nordic collaborations and international negotiations on the conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources.
Siberian larch (Larix sibirica) photographed outside Rovaniemi in Finland, 2024. The top photo shows the native breed Jämtget captured in Sweden the same year.
NordGen has a special responsibility for conserving and documenting genetic variation of Nordic material to ensure biodiversity and sustainable use of genetic resources. As early as 1979, the Nordic countries decided that a joint Nordic genebank for plants should conserve and facilitate the utilization of national plant genetic resources.
In the 2004 Kalmar Declaration, the Nordic countries have adopted the basis for how NordGen should manage access and rights to genetic resources. All accessions in the genebank, except for collections held by NordGen for other genebanks, are under joint Nordic management and are a common good. In 2023, the Kalmar declaration was updated in accordance with technical advancements and new fields of genetic resources that was not mentioned in the earlier version.
The genebank's seed collection should contribute to more resilience and new solutions to avoid biodiversity loss and contribute to increased use of genetic resources to achieve sustainable climate solutions, robust food and feed supply including new protein sources, better health and sustainable ecosystem services. At the same time, efforts will be made to improve documentation by characterizing and evaluating the seed collection, so that more data becomes available to the Nordic community.
NordGen manages the program Nordic Public Private Partnership for Pre-breeding (PPP), which aims to support the development of Nordic plant pre-breeding.
NordGen has the operational responsibility for the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in a partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food in Norway and the Global Crop Diversity Trust.
Harvest of oats at NordGen's field cultivation, 2024.
Figure 1: Organogram – NordGen.
A graphic figure showing the organization of NordGen

KNOWLEDGE CENTER

As the Nordic knowledge center for genetic resources, NordGen participates in and leads research projects, arranges outreach activities and shares information with relevant stakeholders concerning conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources important for food and agriculture. NordGen is also participating in several Nordic, European and International networks and commissions. 
 
Our most important tools for exchanging knowledge within the Nordic countries are our working groups and councils. The different working groups of NordGen Plants, the working group and the council of NordGen Forest and the council of NordGen Farm Animals are vital advisory groups consisting of experts within each field from all the Nordic countries. The Board of NordGen also provides valuable input and knowledge exchange. Information is disseminated through our website nordgen.org, social media, project reports, press releases, arranged events, network meetings and targeted e-mails.  
Top photo: A delegation from Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Saftey Authority visited NordGen during 2024.
Social media followers
2022
2023
2024
Instagram
2470
3014
3428
Facebook
3789
4300
4784
LinkedIn
1994
2732
3602
X
1610
1951
1957
Table 1:  Social media statistics, numbers from the month December. NordGen stopped using X during 2024.
In 2024, NordGen continued developing its competence within digitalization considerably. Video online meetings and seminars has increased the bridgebuilding over country borders, both internally and externally. Externally, our digital competence has enabled us to reach a wider audience that can take part in important knowledge sharing events concerning genetic resources without having to spend time and resources on travelling. It is expected that NordGen will continue to use these digital options at future events.
During the year, a new NordGen website was also launched. In addition to a more appealing and user-friendly design, the new website is also much easier to work in for NordGen's communications unit.

Conference on genetic resources

On 11 December, NordGen organized the "Nordic Conference on Genetic Resources - Possibilities and Urgency" in Malmö. About 140 participants attended the conference on-site in Malmö and almost 160 registered for the online streaming to listen to 12 speakers from a wide range of areas connected to different fields of genetic resources. The key takeaways from the conference were that genetic resources are excellent tools for the green transition. However, the Nordic collaboration needs to be maintained and communication accelerated to reach viable change.
In addition to this conference, NordGen organized two other conferences during 2024. Read more about these events in the chapters on forests and farm animals.
Skärmavbild 2025-01-31 kl. 12.58.38 (2).jpg
The new website was launched in June 2024.
Some examples from the conference: The poster exhibition contained 24 posters, Lise Lykke Steffensen during her presentation "Genetic Resources as tools for mitigating climate change and promote green transition", panel discussion and Michael Zöllner during the presentation "How to engage the business community in stronger biodiversity".

Other visits and external events

During 2024, interest in visiting NordGen remained high and the premises in Alnarp were visited by journalists, politicians, students, companies and other genebanks. Guests included delegations from Thailand National Rice Seed Storage Laboratory (NRSSL), The European Regional Focal Point for Animal Genetic Resources (ERFP) ad hoc action group, several Botanical gardens of Lithuania, Nordic Council of Ministers Senior Official Committee and Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Saftey Authority.
In April, NordGen hosted a meeting with the Ukrainian genebank and international experts to develop a strategy for securing Ukraine's invaluable plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (read more in Projects). On 14 June, stakeholders and other quests were invited to the "NordGen Day" in Alnarp for a day focusing on genetic resources including tours of the main building and laboratories, excursions of the greenhouse and field cultivations, festivities and informations stands on NordGen's operations. During the year, NordGen also organized specialized training programs for staff at the DOA Genebank in Thailand and The National Plant Gene Bank in Malta.
In the following pages, our different sections and their activities during 2024 will be introduced.
International experperts and representatives from the Ukrainian genebank met in Alnarp.

Knowledge centre - NordGen Plants

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.

Key activities

The research conducted at NordGen Plants is mostly carried out within different projects. Read more about these activities under the chapter “Projects". 
Parts of NordGen's outdoor cultivations during 2024.

Nordic collaboration

NordGen is part of and arranges several different meetings and seminars for the Nordic stakeholders concerning plant genetic resources. 2024 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 project is focusing on Nordic flax in collaboration between NordGen, Skånelin, Science Park Borås and the project "1 KVM LIN". In this project 15 Nordic flax varieties were cultivated during 2024 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.
 

International collaboration

 

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. 
One of the flax varieties that was cultivated during 2024.
In October 2024, NordGen participated in the COP16 on biological diversity that was held in Cali, Colombia. In high competition, NordGen was granted an official side event on the role of genebanks in the Kunming-Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework.
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.