Food, fisheries and agriculture
Topic
The Ministry of Agriculture and Food has chief responsibility for food policy and agricultural policy. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries has chief responsibility for fisheries and the aquaculture industry, seafood safety and fish health and welfare.
A global backstop
The vault hold the seeds of many tens of thousands of varieties of essential food crops such as beans, wheat and rice. In total, the vault now holds seeds of more than 4000 plant species. These seed samples are duplicates of seed sample stores in national, regional and international gene banks.
Reindeer husbandry
Reindeer husbandry is a small industry on a national scale, but in Saami and local communities it is of great importance for the economy, employment and culture. The aim is to ensure that the Reindeer trade in Norway is ecologically, economically and culturally sustainable.
Soil protection
Compared to many other countries, Norway has limited areas of arable land. Safeguarding food production requires strong soil protection measures, combined with better utilization of available farmland.However, soil conservation must be balanced against other requirements. Facing future challenges, therefore, requires a comprehensive soil protection strategy.
Related topics
Current
Call on Germany to adress AMR (Antimicrobial resistance)
2015-10-28: Minister of Agriculture and Food, Sylvi Listhaug, is urging the state secretary of the German Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Maria Flachsbarth, to address AMR as a main issue at the international agriculture conference in Berlin in January 2016. Some 80 agricultural Ministers and state secretaries from around the world will convene in the German capital to discuss food security and other global issues of agricultural policy.
10,000 new seed samples into the vault in October
2015-10-28: Five gene banks and research centers on four continents deposited seeds at this year's fifth and final opening of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. A total of 10,060 new seed samples, from gene banks in Asia, Africa, South America and Europe, were added to the stores.
Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO) to be launched 1 July 2015
2015-02-06: The Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO) will be Norway’s largest interdisciplinary research institute in the agricultural and environmental sphere, and one of Norway’s largest research institutes. Alvhild Hedstein has been appointed Director General.
Resources
Contact
Ministry of Agriculture and Food
E-mail: postmottak@lmd.dep.no
Phone: +47 22 24 90 90
Address: , Postboks 8007 Dep. 0030 Oslo
Visitor address: Teatergata 9 (R6),