Future Food Security in the Nordic-Baltic Region: Merging Past, Present, and Future (NorBalFoodSec)

Plant growth conditions in northern Europe differ from other parts of the world due to a unique combination of day length and local climate.

As plants are highly affected by the complex nature of trait and genotype interactions with the environment, only breeders in the Nordic and Baltic countries can be expected to breed for the specific conditions of these regions. Climate change in the Nordic and Baltic regions is currently occurring at one of the fastest rates globally.

Effective breeding of cultivars adapted to the regional future climate relies on a solid understanding of these interactions and relevant climate projections, requiring an interdisciplinary effort of scientists with regional expertise in both plant breeding and climate.

Recent initiatives have substantially strengthened regional cooperation and knowledge sharing between agricultural research institutions and plant breeders.

The Nordic Public-Private Partnership (PPP) for pre-breeding has fostered pre-breeding cooperation in the form of genetic and phenotypic characterization of crops such as cereals, forages, fruits and potato. Similarly, the Nordic countries have a long-standing tradition of cooperation in climate research.

The main objective of NorBalFoodSec is therefore to generate actionable knowledge on future Nordic and Baltic climate relevant for adapting plant cultivars to the future climate of the region, with a focus on cereal (barley), forage (red clover) and tuber (potatoes) crops.