Articles on agriculture

Catastrophic fires, those with exceptional costs or many casualties are increasing. What can be done about this? Researcher Johan Sjöström explains why fires in southern Europe are becoming increasingly severe and how common birch trees can help to reduce similar risks in Sweden.

Common grass could become a new contribution to the energy transition – and a new source of income for Swedish farmers. Lantmännen is well on its way to successfully extracting protein for pigs and poultry from forage crops.  "This could generate profitability for our farmers and make production more sustainable. And we will become less dependent on products produced far away. We are killing several birds with one stone," says Pär-Johan Lööf, R&D Manager Agri at Lantmännen. 

These are three of the great societal challenges of our time: how do we reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, make ourselves more self-sufficient - and improve our long-term preparedness for major crises? The solution to all three is the circular bioeconomy.

The unique laboratory in Stockholm generates a lot of data every year to investigate the effect of environment and genetics on wood properties together with other institutes and universities. At the same time, the laboratory is constantly developing its ability to analyse new sample types and generate new data types.

With its autonomous and electric-powered robot, Ekobot enables reduced use of chemicals while data collection provides new opportunities for the farmer. By collaborating with RISE early in its entrepreneurial journey, Ekobot has been able to develop and test its innovative solutions, representing a significant step towards a more sustainable and profitable agricultural production.

Digital technologies could serve as a catalyst for increased productivity and sustainability in agriculture. But it is important that the solutions developed are able to help and not hinder.  

With better access to new knowledge, farmers could increase their innovation capacity, profitability, and competitiveness. A bridge must therefore exist to close the gap between research and Swedish livestock producers. And this is the aim of the Livestock Production knowledge hub. 

The Swedish Board of Agriculture was to conduct a feasibility study for a national platform for sharing data. So, they needed a partner familiar with both digitalisation and agriculture. They chose RISE.  “Their experience and expertise in both sectors was necessary for us to be able to complete our feasibility study,” says Frida Sporre at the Swedish Board of Agriculture’s nutritional development department. 

Reducing carbon emissions is important to efforts to stop climate change, but at least as important is identifying and creating carbon sinks. RISE researcher Tora Råberg and her colleagues have helped the City of Malmö identify what they can do to reach net-zero emissions.

There is a strong commitment to a sustainable food system. But the road to the goal is not straight. Focusing solely on making one's climate impact as small as possible risks having a negative effect on other important environmental goals. This is how you as a food operator can make the choices that suit your business best. 

We need to use fewer plastic products – not least when it comes to single-use items. Both for environmental reasons as well as for a new EU directive. Part of the solution is spelled agricultural waste products, which can be given new life as both functional and inexpensive disposables and packaging.

A single actor cannot manage the transition on their own. In order for consumers to be able to eat food that is good, healthy and sustainable, collaboration is required throughout the food chain.  "Everyone we talk to sees the benefits. But it is not obvious for an entrepreneur to talk innovation with their supplier or customer,” says Charlotte Eklund-Jonsson at RISE. 

Climate change poses many new challenges for agriculture. The transition to a more sustainable and fossil-free agriculture must take place at the same time as food production in Sweden should increase. How can this be done while maintaining or increasing profitability?  

Increasingly more people are calling this the era of the protein shift. If we are serious about reducing climate impact and conserving natural resources, we must cut meat consumption and eat more plant-based foods. If the protein shift is to be both viable and sustainable, we need not only to learn more about how different products affect the environment and the climate, but also to get more attractive and highly nutritious products to market. 

With the advancing development of technologies based on artificial intelligence, new areas of use are emerging. Computer vision is one such area. The technology can assist people in several ways, who can instead devote themselves to other tasks, and in some cases the technology is both faster and more reliable. – “It may involve monitoring processes in industry, for example, where the system can detect an event early on in the preliminary stage and issue a warning before anything has happened,” says Olof Mogren, Senior Researcher in Machine Learning at RISE.

With stakeholders from the food industry, researchers from RISE, Chalmers and Uppsala University will accelerate the transition to a more sustainable food system in Sweden. FINEST is one of four multi-million investments at the Swedish Center for Food Research and Innovation funded by Formas.