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: Participants from Agroecology Europe Forum 2025 visited NordGen in October.
Social media followers | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
Instagram | 2470 | 3014 | 3428 | 3782 |
Facebook | 3789 | 4300 | 4784 | 5191 |
LinkedIn | 1994 | 2732 | 3602 | 5231 |
Table 1: Social media statistics, numbers from the month December. In 2025, LinkedIn surpassed Facebook in the number of followers.
Joint working group meeting
On 11 June, NordGen Plant’s eight working groups met at the headquarters in Alnarp for a joint meeting. In total, around 50 experts working with the eight different plant categories* travelled from across all the Nordic countries to attend. The programme included presentations and discussions on NordGen’s research strategy, recent developments within NordGen, the progress of the working groups’ various research projects, and ideas for the future.
*The structure of NordGen Plant's working groups:
Cereals
Industrial crops
Forages
Grain legumes
Crop wild relatives
Vegetables & Potatoes
Medicinal, aromatic and ornamental plants
Nordic network for vegetatively propagated crops
Photos from the joint working group meeting in Alnarp.
Other visits and external events
In addition to the joint working group meeting, NordGen organised a Nordic forest conferences during 2025. Read more about this event in the chapter on NordGen Forest.
During 2025, interest in visiting NordGen remained high and the premises in Alnarp were visited by journalists, policy makers, students, companies and other genebanks. Guests included government officials from the Nordic and Baltic countries, representatives from the European Commission, Centre for Genetic Resources, the Netherlands (CGN), Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety, AGES and the Hungarian genebank National Center for Biodiversity and Gene Conservation.
In October, NordGen and The Nordic Joint Committee for Agricultural and Food Research (NKJ) organized a field visit/workshop to NordGen's head office and greenhouse forparticipants in the Agroecology Europe Forum 2025. For example, the visitors got to listen to some of the researchers participating in the Nordic research collaboration facilitated by NKJ as well as an introduction to NordGen's operations
In the following pages, our different sections and their activities during 2025 will be introduced.
