The network has arranged a seminar, which gathered experts, researchers and stakeholders. They emphasized the need for regionally adapted frameworks that include policies and incentives, collaborative monitoring frameworks, and stakeholder engagement to support sustainable soil management.

“By embracing a regionally adapted agroecological approach, Nordic countries can lead the way in building resilient, climate-smart food systems rooted in healthy soils”, the network says in a policy brief, which provides a range of advice that can lead to better soil.

The advices also includes to develop a dynamic online dashboard where current state of soil health can be viewed, establish monitoring systems that reflect local soil types, and to fund interdisciplinary research – among more.

– Based on the discussions during within the TerraNordica network and the seminar we have identified knowledge gaps and future challenges, as well as policy constraints and opportunities for Scandinavian countries. This information is used for composing the policy brief on agroecology and soil health opportunities and challenges for Scandinavian conditions. The members of the network are enthusiastic about the established contacts, and we will continue this cooperation in coming related events, says Jannes Stolte, coordinator of the NKJ co-funded researcher network TerraNordica.

Find all policy advice and key messages from the network in the policy brief!

Sirviö Tapani, chairman of the working group, was the first speaker at the webinar. He spoke about the goal of the working group to bring together authorities, reindeer husbandry practitioners, researchers and nature conservation organizations to take part in a dialogue. It turned out to be a fruitful dialogue, that resulted in eight goals for the future.

The eight goals were presented on the webinar by Sirpa Rasmus, the reporting secretary in the working group.

1 The first point deals with the reindeer grazing species-specific management and utilization plans for the reindeer pastures that have been developed, that are being tested in pilot trials in 2023. The working group suggests listening to the experiences from the trials, and proceeding with the plans as they are formulated today. A reduction in the number of reindeer by 7% is considered by the working group to be sufficient to prevent grazing pressure from becoming too heavy.

2 The working group believe it is important to develop a producer organization in order to strengthen the bargaining power of reindeer husbandry on the market, and thereby increase the possibilities for good profitability.

3 Climate change affects reindeer husbandry. The legislation that provides compensation for losses in connection with extreme weather needs to be developed, as well as the industry’s own tools to reduce the effects of weather- and environmental conditions, as well as animal diseases.

4 Today’s price and operational support should be changed to a support that is not linked to production volume, to become an income transfer for the producer. This needs to be further investigated and a new system introduced by way of a transition period.

5 Reindeer herding is a living part of the cultural heritage of the local communities in the reindeer herding area, and is strongly linked to the language and other culture of the indigenous people. The proposal is to investigate through research whether the current support system fulfills its purpose.

6 A foundation could function as a tool to simultaneously secure the reindeer’s habitat and maintain and strengthen a diverse mountain nature. The two interests often coincide.

7 Land use issues become more and more tangible and create conflicts. Therefore, active work must be done to create dialogue between the parties that are affected.

8 Monitoring and observation systems are important for reindeer husbandry to be able to adapt to new conditions.

Another issue touched upon by the working group is predator management. This was also an issue that was raised in the discussion by the participants of the webinar. The working group thinks it is necessary to find models for how to avoid predator damage to reindeer, while following the plans for the management of the predator tribes that exist. Reindeer management, land use, but also the examination of the damage and the estimation of the predator strains can be developed in this respect.

Sirpa Rasmus presentation

Svensk text
Rennäringen i Finland är på rätt väg. Bevarande av den biologiska mångfalden, olika intressen av markanvändning och ett hållbart, framtida renbete – allt ryms i planen som en arbetsgrupp har lagt upp. Detta framkom vid ett webbinarium arrangerat av NKJ tisdagen 9 maj.

Sirviö Tapani, ordförande för arbetsgruppen, inledde webbinariet genom att berätta om hur arbetsgruppen har velat sammanföra myndigheter, rennäring, forskare och naturvårdsorganisationer i en dialog. Det blev en fruktbar dialog, som också ledde arbetsgruppen fram till åtta mål för framtiden.

De åtta målen presenterades på webbinariet av Sirpa Rasmus, rapporteringssekreterare i arbetsgruppen.

1 Den första punkten handlar om de renbeteslagsspecifika skötsel- och nyttjandeplaner för renbetesmarkerna som tagits fram, och också testas i pilotförsök under 2023. Arbetsgruppen föreslår att man lyssnar till erfarenheterna från försöken, och går vidare med planerna så som de är formulerade idag. En minskning av antalet renar med 7% anser arbetsgruppen räcker för att betestrycket inte ska bli för stort.

2 Arbetsgruppen tycker att det är viktigt att utveckla en producentorganisation för att stärka rennäringens förhandlingskraft på marknaden, och därmed öka möjligheterna för en god lönsamhet.

3 Klimatförändringarna påverkar rennäringen. Lagstiftningen som ger ersättning vid förluster i samband med extremt väder behöver utvecklas, liksom näringen egna verktyg för att minska effekterna av väder- och naturförhållanden och djursjukdomar.

4 Dagens pris- och insatsstöd bör förändras till ett stöd som inte är kopplat till produktionen, för att bli en inkomst för producenten. Detta behöver utredas och ett nytt system införas via en övergångsperiod.

5 Renskötseln är en levande del av lokalsamfundens kulturarv i renskötselområdet, och är starkt kopplad till ursprungsfolkets språk och övriga kultur. Förslaget är att genom forskning utreda om det nuvarande stödsystemet fyller sitt syfte.

6 En stiftelse skulle kunna fungera som ett verktyg för att samtidigt trygga renarnas livsrum och upprätthålla och stärka en mångsidig fjällnatur. De båda intressena sammanfaller ofta.

7 Markanvändningsfrågor blir mer och mer påtagliga och skapar konflikter. Därför måste ett aktivt arbete göras för att skapa dialog mellan de parter som påverkas.

8 Övervaknings- och observationssystem är viktiga för att rennäringen ska kunna anpassa sig till nya förhållanden.

En annan fråga som berörts av arbetsgruppen är rovdjurshanteringen. Det var också en fråga som deltagarna på webbinariet tog upp till diskussion. Arbetsgruppen tycker att det är nödvändigt att hitta modeller för hur rovdjursskador på ren ska undvikas, samtidigt som man följer de planer för hanteringen av rovdjursstammarna som finns. Renskötseln, markanvändningen, men också granskningen av skadorna och uppskattningen av rovdjursstammarna kan utvecklas i det här avseendet.

Reindeer health and animal welfare was the focus for the first network meeting, held 23-24 november in Kiruna, Sweden. The two day workshop included several presentations as well as discussions and networking. The organizers hope for an increase in collaborations on the subject across the Nordic countries after the meeting.

The participants are researchers and others who work in various ways with reindeer health and welfare, infectious diseases, supplementary feeding and health of wild reindeer. Some joined physically in Kiruna, others participated digitally.

Next Tarandus workshop, with the theme infectious diseases, will be coordinated by the Natural Resources Institute Finland (LUKE) with satellite activities and study visit.

One way to approach this is by putting the questions into a context, making them more concrete. Another is to learn from what others have done, looking at initiatives carried out for example at European level.

In this online meeting you will have the opportunity to listen to speakers with experience as well as take part in discussions and to share with others. Welcome to join!

WHEN: June 3, 10.00-12.00 CET

WHERE: Online via Zoom, link will be sent out a couple of days before the meeting

FOCUS: Highlighting opportunities and best practices, as well as challenges with regard to data management

SIGN UP by 21th May
Participating at the event is free of any charge

AGENDA

Reflections from a testbed – Data challenges in practice, Kjersti Balke Hveem, head of NIBIO’s Centre for Precision Agriculture

Keynote lecture – Data management, Suzanne Dumouchel, Head of European Cooperation TGIR Huma-Num (CNRS), Partnerships Coordinator of OPERAS AISBL & Member of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) Association Board of Directors

Panel discussion – Critical data management questions, Ohad Graber-Soudry, commercial lawyer (advokat) X-officio, Tomas Klingström (Gigacow testbed), PhD Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Erik Willén (Auto2 testbed), Process Manager at Skogforsk

Interactive session, all participants are invited to discuss predefined questions

More information

Networks and mentorship programs to empower young professionals in the digital bioeconomy

Two of the action points suggested in the report Redefining digital bioeconomy to make the digital bioeconomy more gender equal are mentorship programs and networks. Mentorship programs can empower young female graduates to pursue careers in the digital bioeconomy. Setting up mentorship programs is however associated with challenges and in need of reflective thinking. It important to remember is that the aim is not change women to be “better” or “more like men”, but rather for men and women to be equals. Furthermore, networks for young professionals and students in the bioeconomy are valuable for strengthening connections, facilitating discussions, and increasing inclusive involvement for students and workers. Peer support is important in succeeding in male dominated industries, where the peer support can come from both men and women. 

This discussion forum is part of a series of aiming to open up for discussions on how the education of young academics can integrate the gender perspective into the meeting between digitalisation and bioeconomy. The discussion forums are initiated and financed by Nordic Forest Research, Nordic Agri Research and the Nordic Council of Ministers. 

When: 2th of June, 10.00-11.30 CET 
To solve any technical problems, please log in to the discussion forum no later than 09.55 

Where: Online via Zoom 
Participants will be provided with a link to the discussion forum on Monday 31st of May 

RSVP: 26th of May to lovisa.torfgard@analysysmason.com 

Agenda 

• Welcome and introduction 

• Three inspirational speeches – One teacher, one student and one network member share their point of view on networks and mentorship programs 

• Group discussions on what role existing networks and mentorship programs have – How do employer female networks work and how do they differ from third party networks? What do mentorship programs 

• Brainstorming ideas on how networks and mentorship programs can take a more active role at universities 

• Reflections in larger group 

• Closing remarks 

Welcome! 

Text: Sari Ranta

The first workshop of the project was held in March. The theme was “let’s learn from each other”. 

The studies presented dealt with a targeted innovative rehabilitating meals-on-wheels service for old people, findings of the Breakfast Club study, that  involves residents in nursing homes in food related activities and Creating caring spaces, a study that has focus on mealtime interventions in nursing homes. Also results of the Meal Aspects 2.0  study – 20 years later, and Agefood 2.0 study (elderly persons food services in changing environments) were covered. In addition food and nutrition science at LNU and Stavanger’s Cognitive Lab at UiS and also Finnish Food recommendations for older adults were presented.

Presentations rise vivid conversations and produced ideas on which put the accent in future. Understanding Nordic perspective acquires attention; remote areas, best practices supporting healthy eating, participation and socializing are of primary concern. Supporting joint curriculum development and sharing already available materials were also emphasized. Based on what was learned it is interesting to head towards the project’s second workshop this fall.

“Bridge builders – Building sustainable nutritional bridges between research and health and wellbeing services for elderly” consists of expertise in food and nutrition research (healthy food, alternative proteins, mealtime interventions, aging) as well as in service applications and good practices (dietary habits and environments, training of social and health professionals). Participants represent Denmark (University College Copenhagen), Finland (South-Eastern University of Applied Sciences), Norway (University of Stavanger) and Sweden (Linnaeus University).

More information:  sari.ranta@xamk.fi

Welcome to 3 webinars during the spring:
Soil as a Carbon Sink

These webinars aim to stimulate knowledge exchange between Nordic actors interested in soil as a carbon sink. They are initiated and financed by Nordic Forest Research, Nordic Agri Research and the Nordic Council of Ministers’ working group for climate and air. We will discuss soil as a carbon sink with experts from Carbon Action, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SEGES, and Svensk kolinlagring – just to mention a few.  

Policy challenges with regards to soil carbon sequestration 27th of April , 10.00-11.30 CET
Registration: Simplesignup – soil as a carbon sink before April 20
Carbon sequestration in soil relates to a range of different perspectives and policy areas, such as biodiversity, production economics, and climate aspects. This complexity creates challenges in terms of managing trade-offs and setting effective policies for tomorrow’s sustainable soil management. In this seminar we will discuss different perspectives, how policymakers can navigate among potential goal conflicts, what research says about these potential goal conflicts, what the main challenges are, and what learnings or “best practice” that can be shared.

Speakers:

• EU policy on carbon sequestration in forestry and land use
  Christian Holzleitner, Head of unit, Land Use and Finance for Innovation, European Commission
• Creating an effective transition to climate neutrality – the role of policy
  Hanna Mattila, Ministerial Adviser, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Finland
• Striving to protect and increase soil carbon while balancing competing societal interests: Examples from Norway
  Adam O’Toole, Researcher, Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research

Visualisation methods and models for soil carbon sequestration 4th of May, 10.00-11.30 CET
Registration: Simplesignup – soil as a carbon sink
To reap the benefits from carbon sequestration in soil it is essential to calculate and communicate the effects of different carbon capture activities. In this seminar we will discuss different methods and models to calculate and communicate these activities. We will engage in question such as “Which methods and models exists?”, “What are their advantages and disadvantages?”, “What development is needed to increase their efficiency and accuracy?”, and “How user friendly are they?”. 

Speakers:

• Title coming
  Dr Johan Stendahl, Researcher, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Head of Swedish Forest Soil Inventory
• Carbon Action Field Observatory – illustrating carbon farming effects on farms
  Prof Jari Liski, Finnish Meteorological Institute, responsible Field Observatory
• Carbon modelling for Danish farms
  Søren Kolind Hvid, Senior specialist, Danish Agriculture & Food Council F.m.b.A. SEGES

Digital knowledge centres for soil carbon sequestration 11th of May, 10.00-11.30 CET
Registration: Simplesignup – soil as a carbon sink
Soil as a carbon sink is of interest to a wide range of stakeholders and focus point for multiple initiatives. In addition, knowledge is developing fast. This creates a complex ecosystem of actors, organisations, and knowledge which makes it challenging to comprehend what is ongoing and by whom. In this seminar we will discuss how to facilitate increased information sharing and the potential need for digital spaces for knowledge transfer.

Speakers: 

• How to bridge model-data integration to decision-relevant time frames
  Dr Istem Fer, Senior researcher, Carbon Cycle Research Group, Finnish Meteorological Institute
• Nordic going global – experiences from soil carbon collaborations
  Dr Laura Höijer, Content Director, Baltic Sea Action Group carbonaction.org
• Unlocking the potential of carbon farming
  Lova Brodin, CEO MiljöMatematik/Svensk Kolinlagring kolinlagring.se

Where: Online via Zoom, link will be sent to registered participants

Registration: Simplesignup – soil as a carbon sink

Questions: Please contact Lovisa Torfgård: lovisa.torfgard@analysysmason.com

Field crops are under pressure due to climate change. Knowledge of crop response to single abiotic stress is often available, but NordCrop will focus on the poorly understood effects of multiple stresses to develop more resilient field crops. Global climate change means that our crops are increasingly exposed to drought or waterlogging, heat and elevated CO2.

The network, funded by NKJ, will investigate how we can exploit new genomic and phenotyping technologies to identify more robust genotypes in key Nordic field crops (wheat, oat, potato and fodder grasses). A virtual meeting is coming up, 14-15 April 2021: “Phenotyping for abiotic climate stresses and yield” (day 1) and “Phenotyping for stresses ” (day 2). Welcome to participate!

Register here, it’s free of charge!

For further information contact Carl-Otto Ottosen, coo@food.au.dk

AGENDA FURTHER DOWN!

Preliminary schedule Virtual Meeting Resilient Northern Crops Network (NordCrop) 14–15 April 2021

Agenda

Day 1 April 14: 12.30-16.30 Phenotyping for abiotic climate stresses and yield
12.30 Welcome (Carl-Otto Ottosen, Aarhus University (AU))
12.40 Keynote Rod Snowdon: Genetics and physiology of yield potential (Justus Liebig University)
13.10 Priming for heat tolerance in wheat (Thayna Mendanha, AU)
13.30 Image-based detection of fungal pathogen infections in Arabidopsis and application of the method on oat spikelets (Kristiina Himanen, University of Helsinki)
13.50 The genetic and physiological basis of yield progress in Norwegians spring wheat (Tomasz Mróz, Norvegian University of Life Science (NMBU))
14.10 Magic populations in phenotyping (John Doonan, Aberysthwyth University, (AberU))
14.30 Grain yield prediction based on multitemporal multispectral UAV imaging (Sahameh Shafiee, NMBU)
14.50 3D modelling of ear emergence (Mori Boozandani, AberU)
15.10 Break
15.30 Student presentations (5 min each)
16.00 General discussion (to be planned)

Day 2 April 15: 12.30-16.30 Phenotyping for stresses
12.30 Keynote Olivier Van Aken: Wounding response och and stress tolerance (Lund University)
13.00 Wheat and drought (Anders Carlsson, Swedish Agricultural University (SLU)
13.20 Sorghum (Mulatu Geleta, SLU)
13.40 Modulated chlorophyll fluorescence as sceening tool (Eva Rosenqvist, University of Copenhagen (UCPH)
14.00 Guard cells in action (Hannes Kollist, University of Tartu)
14.20 Physiological responses of tomato to drought, elevated CO2 and VPD (Shenglan Li, UCPH)
14.40 Multiple stresses and melationin (Rong Zhou, AU)
15.00 Break
15.20 Wheat and heat (Aakash Chawade, SLU)
15.40 Detecting potato diseases in the field (Rick van de Zedde, Wageningen University and Research, NL)
16.00 Wrap up and general discussion

Swedish below

At our last meeting, the working group agreed on that the most important issue for increased crisis preparedness for Nordic agriculture, is to create open channels between researchers and other stakeholders in the various countries. The existing knowledge and ongoing projects need to be Nordic rather than national, to be utilised effectively. The potential for co-operation between the Nordic countries is great thanks to the similarities in climate and political systems, and we should take advantage of that! Therefore, the network will map relevant projects, and work for increased collaboration between them.

In order to enable enhanced cooperation in future crisis, it will be important to identify and remove any barriers in advance. This was pointed out by the network as an important way forward, to improve the opportunities to handle future crises together effectively.

Den Nordiska arbetsgruppen för jordbruk och torka kommer att arbeta för att samordna Nordisk kunskap och projekt för ökad krisberedskap över landsgränserna.

Vid gruppens senaste möte beslutades att den viktigaste frågan för ökad krisberedskap för Nordiskt jordbruk just nu, är att skapa snabbspår mellan forskare och andra intressenter i de olika länderna. Den kunskap som finns och de projekt som bedrivs, ska vara Nordisk mer än nationell, så att den kan utnyttjas effektivt. Potentialen för samarbete mellan de Nordiska länderna är stor tack vare likheterna i klimat och politiska system, och det bör vi utnyttja! Därför kommer nätverket att kartlägga relevanta projekt och arbeta för ökade kontakter mellan dessa.

För att möjliggöra ett utökat samarbete i händelse av kriser, är det viktigt att i förväg kartlägga och undanröja eventuella gränshinder. Det togs av nätverket upp som en viktig väg framåt för att förbättra möjligheterna att hantera framtida kriser tillsammans på ett effektivt sätt.