The pre-project Choose legumes! aims to develop new knowledge about drivers and barriers to increased consumption of legumes in Norway, as well as design interventions to stimulate increased use of legumes.
The project consists of four main objectives:
Surveys and focus groups are used as research methods. New students are the target group in the pre project, because they are often in a phase of life where established routines are changing. Research shows that people in such “moments of change” – situations in which individuals experience major life changes and the decision-making context changes – can be more open to forming new, lasting habits. Drivers and barriers in the form of students’ capability, motivation and opportunity are mapped based on the COM-B model. The interventions are designed to address the drivers and barriers that stand out as most important.
JÆDER is a business partner in the project and assist in designing the interventions.
Barley is an important agricultural product. Approximately 553 000 tonn is harvested each year. Almost all is being used as animal feed, while large amounts of barley malt for beer brewing is imported every year. The main objective of the project is to establish knowledge that enables increased use of Norwegian barley in food and drink through industrial-scale malting in a sustainable manner.
I dette prosjektet skal det forskes på en rekke temaer, som markedspotensial og forbrukernes holdninger, identifisere optimalt genetisk materiale og optimalisere agronomi for å oppnå bygg med høyt utbytte og god kvalitet under norske forhold, forstå maltingsprosessen med norsk bygg, design og uttesting av produkter basert på norsk malt, utforskning av potensiale for bruk av biprodukter fra ølproduksjon samt analysere total bærekraft.
NORSUS is responsible for WP6 entitled Sustainability of Norwegian malt, which in this project includes all three pillars: environmental social matters and economy. The methodology of Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) will be used.
The project is based on close cooperation between research institutions and industry partners. The focus will lie on production of malt and development of food and drink products based on Norwegian malt, but the assessments will also include primary production.
The main goal of EFREE-Green is to develop an economic, environmental, and socially sustainable system for year-round smart farming to deliver safe and healthy vegetables.
The project targets several challenges in the Norwegian greenhouse sector, including the societal challenge of improving food self-sufficiency in Norway and the industry challenge of reducing energy consumption, consumption of fossil fuels and emissions of greenhouse gases.
It focuses on increasing crop yield and fruit quality using an innovative technology named Smart environmental control system (ECS). It is the first time this system is implemented in Norway.
The ECS uses supplemental LED light and high CO2 concentrations to increase crop size and fruit quality, as well as reducing energy consumption through optimized environmental conditions in the greenhouse by utilizing optimal controller parameters and heat pump efficiency.
The project will involve an interdisciplinary team with diverse expertise and will be carried out over a 3-year period. The Norwegian Institute for Bioeconomy (NIBIO), in Særheim (Rogaland) is the project leader.
The project started in 2023, and it will end in 2026. Most of NORSUS activities are planned in the latter half of 2025 and the first half of 2026.
NORSUS is responsible for WP6 entitled environmental and social analysis. We will quantify the environmental and social impacts of the developed smart farming system in comparison with data from traditional greenhouses in Norway by using the methodologies of environmental (E-LCA) and social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA). The LCA will be comprehensive and will also include impacts such as production of buildings, equipment, and machinery. WP6 will address the hypothesis that a smart farming system has less environmental and social impact compared to a traditional farming system.
We believe our competence will be a good complementation to the expertise of NIBIO and the other partners in the project.
The project received funding by the Norwegian Research Council in the call Collaborative and Knowledge-building Project under the grant agreement 344542.
Siden det norske dyrkbare arealet er begrenset, er det et klart potensial i økt produksjon og verdiskaping fra veksthusnæringen. Det er et spesielt potensial for både økt norskandel på tomat og økt forbruk, gitt at produksjonen blir mer konkurransedyktig mot import og at smakene treffer den norske forbrukeren. En forutsetning for økt, norsk veksthusproduksjon er at dette foretas på en stadig mer bærekraftig måte. Ny kunnskap om teknologiske løsninger for redusert energibruk, bedre utnyttelse av naturlig og kunstig lys for økt produksjon, miljøfotavtrykket fra veksthusproduksjon samt gode verktøy for å ta de rette beslutningene, er viktig for at BAMA skal nå sine mål. Den overordnede ideen er å skape verdivekst i norsk veksthusproduksjon med mål om økt norskproduksjon og økt forbruk av viktige veksthuskulturer, på en stadig mer bærekraftig måte.Dette skal oppnås gjennom bedre kunnskap om bruk av lys og hvordan man aktivt kan øke produksjonen ved bruk av lys, samt ved å få vurdert og utviklet et verktøy for å sammenlikne miljøfotavtrykket til ulike produksjoner av veksthuskulturer i Norge sammenliknet med import. Prosjektet vil være i tråd med og som en klar oppfølging av Grøntutvalgets rapport.
NewTools was a four-year research project with the aim of providing both producers and consumers with better insight into the nutritional quality, and the social and environmental impact of the food we eat. The project was funded by the Research Council of Norway, and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health was the project owner with overall responsibility for administration and implementation.
The project brought together 28 partners from different sectors, including research institutions, the food industry, public authorities and independent interest organizations. Their collaborative effort aimed to support the transition to a more sustainable food system and consumption patterns by developing integrated indicators that assess both the health and environmental impacts of food.
The aim was to develop practical scoring systems with relevant and accurate indicators that can be used as guidelines in product development, policy formulation and purchasing schemes – while these should be useful tools for consumers. The results should consider specific Norwegian production conditions, while the methods should be flexible enough to be used on imported foods.
NORSUS has, in collaboration with NMBU, developed scoring systems for environmental and social sustainability. Food products are classified into five levels, from A to E, for both dimensions. The scoring system for environmental sustainability is based on the EU's Product Environmental Footprint (PEF), with additions for biodiversity on land and in the sea. The social scoring system is based on the UNEP guidelines for Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA). Statistical analysis has been used to reduce the number of indicators without losing important information. Weighting factors have also been developed to give each indicator their relative importance when calculating an overall score.
Publications:
NewTools framework development-proposal for scope, system boundary and category selection
Scoring social sustainability of food products: A framework based on national-level data
A Multi-Indicator Framework for Environmental Scoring of Food Products
Nutritional Life Cycle Assessment –vurdering og testing av utvalgte metoder
Here you will find the final report on the project
There is great interest in carbon footprints of food and therefore NORSUS in collaboration with RISE in Sweden has carried out a project to establish a climate database for Norwegian foods. Currently, RISE has a climate database that contains carbon footprints for just over 750 foods on the Swedish market. The Norwegian list will be included as part of this database, so that it is adapted to the Norwegian market. In this database, Swedish foods have been replaced with Norwegian foods and imported goods will be the same for both Norway and Sweden. The carbon footprints for the Norwegian products are based on life cycle analysis carried out by NORSUS and literature data for Norwegian conditions.
Read more about the collaboration here.
Read more about RISE Climate database here.
Grunnideene er at slakting og skjæring skal skje utenfra og inn (betyr blant annet at mage/tarm-system er det siste som tas ut) før kjøling og at all arbeidsoperasjoner skal skje i paralell istendefor i serie, som i dagens produksjon. MFC er forventet å gi en bedret lønnsomhet i kjøttbransjen ved økt fleksibilitet, mindre risiko for driftsavbrudd og bedre muligheter for å ta vare på plussprodukter. Det er også forventet at energibruken vil bli redusert. I prosjektet skal det jobbes med gris, men det er forventet at ideene og konseptene skal kunne være overførbare til andre dyreslag.
Østfoldforskning skal undersøke bærekraft til MFC i forhold til eksisterende produksjon og gi innspill til utviklingen av MFC i løpet av hele prosjektet. Bærekraftanalysene omfatter miljømessige spørsmål, livsløpsøkonomi og sosiale forhold. Metodene som skal brukes er livsløpsanalyser (LCA), livsløpskostnadsanalyser (LCC) og sosiale analyser for eksempel SLCA
iNOBox proposes 5 market-driven business solutions with broad transferability that integrate innovative processing technologies (IPT) across relevant agri-food chains. iNOBox will greatly advance cross-disciplinary knowledge base on IPT and pave the way towards market & consumer uptake. Ultimately, iNOBox will develop an innovation e-toolbox to support IPT end-users/manufacturers on scientific, technical & regulatory matters, consumer-centric process innovation opportunities & marketing strategies. Through whole value-chain interventions, resource-efficient IPT will foster: Environmental, economic & social sustainability towards a circular bioeconomy [better self-sufficiency; cost optimisation; 1.5-5% energy saving in the whole sector; 0.1% GHG emission reduction in Norway; 438 MNOK/yr consumer savings (food waste) for each extra day’s shelf-life]; Fast-growing productivity, long-term profitability & competitiveness; Better employability of a high-skilled workforce in decentralised areas. Safer & healthier IPT foods will lead to new market shares & social innovation (allergy, health promotion) and will improve the public health system through reduced prevalence of food allergy/diet-related diseases, food recalls & associated health/social costs, while contributing to food security for a growing/ageing population. iNOBox will foster international responsible research & innovation, multi-actor & public engagement, science education, open knowledge sharing and gender/ethical integrity, towards better decision-making on sustainable process innovation & enhanced know-how/technology transfer
Prosjektet er organisert i en rekke arbeidspakker: WP1 bærekraft, WP2 Jordbruk, WP3 Prosessering. WP4 Kvalitet, WP5 Forbrukere, innovasjon og marked, WP6 Kommunikasjon.
Østfoldforskning sin rolle i prosjektet vil være å analysere miljø- og ressursmessig og sosial bærekraft av eksisterende proteinkilder, hovedsakelig av animalsk opprinnelse, og av nye proteinkilder basert på planter. Fokus vil være på fababønner, erter og havre, samt restprodukter fra produksjon av rapsolje og hvetemel. Analysene skal omfatte hele verdikjeden fra gård til forbruker og vil bli gjort ved hjelp av livsløpsanalyser (LCA) og sosiale analyser (f eks SLCA). Analysene skal fylle to hovedformål: 1. Gi bakgrunn for innspill til å øke bærekraft av nye matvarer basert på planteprotein.
2. Dokumentere mulige effekter på bærekraft av en delvis overgang fra animalsk protein til planteprotein,
Arbeidet vil i hovedsakelig bli utført av Seniorforsker Erik Svanes, og skal gjøres gjennom en kvalifisering for Dr Philos-graden ved NMBU. RISE Bioteknologi (Sverige) og AgriAnalyse (Norge) samarbeider om oppgavene i arbeidspakken.
Se link til prosjektets hjemmeside her.
Dr Philos kandidat: Erik Svanes
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Arbeidspakkeleder: Ole Jørgen Hanssen, Østfoldforskning
Primærproduksjonsprosjektet har resultert i utforming av en definisjon for matsvinn og produksjonstap i primærproduksjon. Ulike metoder for datainnsamling, som er i tråd med denne definisjonen har blitt testet for utvalgte produkter og det er laget et estimat av den totale mengden av tap i primærproduksjonen i de nordiske landene. Resultatene fra prosjektet kan brukes til å identifisere tiltak for å redusere tap i primærproduksjonen.
