Norwegian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research (Bioforsk) is a national Norwegian R&D institute specialising in the fields of agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

and food production, environmental protection

Environmental protection

Environmental protection is a practice of protecting the environment, on individual, organizational or governmental level, for the benefit of the natural environment and humans. Due to the pressures of population and our technology the biophysical environment is being degraded, sometimes permanently...

 and natural resource

Natural resource

Natural resources occur naturally within environments that exist relatively undisturbed by mankind, in a natural form. A natural resource is often characterized by amounts of biodiversity and geodiversity existent in various ecosystems....

management. Furthermore, Bioforsk focuses on research-based
innovation, value creation and sustainable resource utilisation.
Bioforsk aims to be a regionally, nationally and internationally competitive
knowledge producer and service provider.

Organisation

Bioforsk was established on 1 January 2006, after a merger of the
Norwegian Centre for Soil and Environmental Research, the Norwegian
Institute for Crop Research and the Norwegian Centre for Organic Agriculture.http://gammel.jordforsk.no/english/bioforsk_soil-and-environment.htm
Bioforsk has a staff of about 500. Bioforsk is organised under the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food

Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food

The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Foods is a Norwegian ministry established on February 17, 1900, and is responsible for agriculture, forestry and food in Norway. It is led by Minister of Agriculture and Food Lars Peder Brekk...

.
The institute consists of seven research divisions, a laboratory and numerous branches spread throughout the
country, thus ensuring proximity to both market and challenges. Bioforsk’s
management team and central administration are located in Ås

Ås

Ås is a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It is part of the Follo traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Ås...

, 30 km
south of Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

.

The Bioforsk Plant Health and Plant Protection Division is in charge of
R&D related to plant health and plant protection. The division specialises
in the fields of plant diseases, weed

Weed

A weed in a general sense is a plant that is considered by the user of the term to be a nuisance, and normally applied to unwanted plants in human-controlled settings, especially farm fields and gardens, but also lawns, parks, woods, and other areas. More specifically, the term is often used to...

s, pests, climate effects, genetics

Genetics

Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of genes, heredity, and variation in living organisms....

 and
biotechnology

Biotechnology

Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...

. Important R&D areas include integrated plant protection,
biological pest control

Biological pest control

Biological control of pests in agriculture is a method of controlling pests that relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or other natural mechanisms...

 and pest forecasting systems. The division is
furthermore involved in such fields as agrometeorology, ecotoxicology

Ecotoxicology

Ecotoxicology is the study of the effects of toxic chemicals on biological organisms, especially at the population, community, ecosystem level. Ecotoxicology is a multidisciplinary field, which integrates toxicology and ecology....

 and
risk analysis. The Plant Health and Plant Protection Centre is located in Ås.

The Bioforsk Soil and Environment Division is in charge of soil

Soil

Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...

and environmental research. The division is specialised in the
fields of soil science, soil pollution, ecotoxicology, waste management

Waste management

Waste management is the collection, transport, processing or disposal,managing and monitoring of waste materials. The term usually relates to materials produced by human activity, and the process is generally undertaken to reduce their effect on health, the environment or aesthetics...

, wastewater

Wastewater

Wastewater is any water that has been adversely affected in quality by anthropogenic influence. It comprises liquid waste discharged by domestic residences, commercial properties, industry, and/or agriculture and can encompass a wide range of potential contaminants and concentrations...

 and ecological engineering, hydrology

Hydrology

Hydrology is the study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water on Earth and other planets, including the hydrologic cycle, water resources and environmental watershed sustainability...

,
water quality, land use

Land use

Land use is the human use of land. Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as fields, pastures, and settlements. It has also been defined as "the arrangements, activities and inputs people undertake in a certain land cover...

 and terrestrial climate effects. The
division’s main office is in Ås, but there is also a branch in Svanvik
in eastern Finnmark

Finnmark

or Finnmárku is a county in the extreme northeast of Norway. By land it borders Troms county to the west, Finland to the south and Russia to the east, and by water, the Norwegian Sea to the northwest, and the Barents Sea to the north and northeast.The county was formerly known as Finmarkens...

, close to the Russian and Finnish borders, with
a specific focus on environmental issues in the Barents Region

Barents Region

The Barents Region is a name given, by political ambition to establish international cooperation after the fall of the Soviet Union, to the land along the coast of the Barents Sea, from Nordland in Norway to the Kola Peninsula in Russia and beyond all the way to the Ural Mountains and Novaya...

. The
branch also includes the Svanhovd Conference Centre and the
Visitor’s Centre of the Øvre Pasvik National Park

Øvre Pasvik National Park

Øvre Pasvik National Park lies in Sør-Varanger municipality in Finnmark county, Norway. The park was opened in 1970 and was originally 63 km². In 2003 the park size was increased to 119 km², at the same time that the adjacent Øvre Pasvik landskapsvernområde, a national protected area, was opened...

.

The Bioforsk Arable Crops Division is in charge of R&D related to
cereal

Cereal

Cereals are grasses cultivated for the edible components of their grain , composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran...

s, oilseed crops, pea

Pea

A pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the pod fruit Pisum sativum. Each pod contains several peas. Peapods are botanically a fruit, since they contain seeds developed from the ovary of a flower. However, peas are considered to be a vegetable in cooking...

s, seed production, potato

Potato

The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...

es,
vegetable

Vegetable

The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....

s and herb

Herb

Except in botanical usage, an herb is "any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavoring, food, medicine, or perfume" or "a part of such a plant as used in cooking"...

s. The division also conducts research on such
areas as berries

Berry

The botanical definition of a berry is a fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary. Grapes are an example. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp. They may have one or more carpels with a thin covering and fleshy interiors....

, forage crops, lawn grass, small livestock, organic
agriculture, precision farming and farm-based rural development
in the mountain regions. The main office is in Kapp

Kapp, Norway

Kapp is a village in the municipality of Østre Toten, Norway. Its population is 1,855....

 in Hedmark

Hedmark

is a county in Norway, bordering Sør-Trøndelag, Oppland and Akershus. The county administration is in Hamar.Hedmark makes up the northeastern part of Østlandet, the southeastern part of the country. It includes a long part of the borderline with Sweden, Dalarna County and Värmland County. The...

 County, but there are branches throughout eastern Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, where,
due to natural conditions, most of the country’s arable crops are
grown.

The Bioforsk Horticulture and Urban Greening Division is in
charge of R&D related to fruit

Fruit

In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...

 and berry crops, greenhouse
production of vegetables and berries, Christmas trees and cut
greens, as well as the establishment and maintenance of urban green space

Open space reserve

Open space reserve, open space preserve, and open space reservation, are planning and conservation ethics terms used to describe areas of protected or conserved land or water on which development is indefinitely set aside...

, including sports and amenity turf. The division also
focuses on roughage production and cultural landscape
management. The main office is in Klepp

Klepp

Klepp is a municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The parish of Klep was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 ....

 in Rogaland

Rogaland

is a county in Western Norway, bordering Hordaland, Telemark, Aust-Agder and Vest-Agder. It is the center of the Norwegian petroleum industry, and as a result of this, Rogaland has the lowest unemployment rate of any county in Norway, 1.1%...

 County, just
south of Stavanger

Stavanger

Stavanger is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.Stavanger municipality has a population of 126,469. There are 197,852 people living in the Stavanger conurbation, making Stavanger the fourth largest city, but the third largest urban area, in Norway...

, and there are three branches in other parts of
western Norway: two in Sogn

Sogn

Sogn is a traditional district in Western Norway . It is located in the county of Sogn og Fjordane, surrounding the Sognefjord. Sogn consists of the municipalities of Aurland, Balestrand, Hyllestad, Høyanger, Gulen, Leikanger, Luster, Lærdal, Sogndal, Solund, Vik, and Årdal. The district covers ...

 & Fjordane and one in Hordaland

Hordaland

is a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark and Rogaland. Hordaland is the third largest county after Akershus and Oslo by population. The county administration is located in Bergen...

.

The Bioforsk Grassland and Landscape Division is in charge of
R&D related to grassland management, roughage production and
the cultural landscape. The division, which is based at Stjørdal

Stjørdal

is a municipality in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Stjørdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Stjørdal, also called Stjørdalshalsen...

 to
the north of Trondheim

Trondheim

Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...

, also conducts research on cereals,
berries, vegetables, potatoes, greenhouse crops and bioenergy

Bioenergy

Bioenergy is renewable energy made available from materials derived from biological sources. Biomass is any organic material which has stored sunlight in the form of chemical energy. As a fuel it may include wood, wood waste, straw, manure, sugarcane, and many other byproducts from a variety of...

.

The Bioforsk Organic Food and Farming Division is a national
centre of expertise, in charge of R&D related to organic agriculture and organic food production. The division’s activities cover the entire value chain from “farm to table”. The division is
based at Tingvoll

Tingvoll

Tingvoll is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Nordmøre region. The administrative centre is the village of Tingvoll. Other villages include Meisingset, Kvisvik, and Torjulvågen.-General information:...

 in north-western Norway (Møre og Romsdal

Møre og Romsdal

is a county in the northernmost part of Western Norway. It borders the counties of Sør-Trøndelag, Oppland and Sogn og Fjordane. The county administration is located in Molde, while Ålesund is the largest city.-The name:...

County).

The Bioforsk Arctic Agriculture and Land Use Division is in
charge of R&D related to Arctic

Arctic

The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...

 agriculture and the utilisation of
wilderness and rangeland resources. The division has special
expertise in the fields of wild berry production, utilisation of
uncultivated land and freshwater fisheries. The division also has a
regional responsibility for facilitating an innovative development
of agriculture and land use in northern Norway. The main office is
in the Arctic metropolis of Tromsø

Tromsø

Tromsø is a city and municipality in Troms county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Tromsø.Tromsø city is the ninth largest urban area in Norway by population, and the seventh largest city in Norway by population...

, with two branches in Nordland

Nordland

is a county in Norway in the North Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Nord-Trøndelag in the south, Norrbottens län in Sweden to the east, Västerbottens län to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The county was formerly known as Nordlandene amt. The county administration is...

County (Tjøtta

Tjøtta

Tjøtta is an island, village and former municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is now part of Alstahaug municipality..-Location:The village Tjøtta is located on the southern tip of the island of the same name, which is located south of Alsten.The municipality was created in 1862 by a split...

 and Bodø

Bodø

is a city and a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Salten region.The city of Bodø was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 . Bodin was merged with Bodø on 1 January 1968. Skjerstad was merged with Bodø on 1 January 2005...

).

External links

• www.bioforsk.no
• GENESIS - Groundwater and Dependent Ecosystems (large scale EU-project)
• SoilCAM (EU-project)