NordGen Annual Review 2014

NordGen publication series 2014:01Annual Review 2014 is produced by NordGen.

Design & Layout Martin Forsén

Plants 2

Forest 6

Farm animals 8

Public Private Partership 13

Svalbard Global Seed Vault 11

IT & Documentation 12

Facts & Figures 19

Board, Staff and Summery 20

Foreword 1

Foreword by the NordGen director

Arni Bragason,Director

Working within the Nordic system is special, your colleagues are of diff erent nationalities and you are allowed to work there for maximum eight years. Th ings change when nearly half of the employees are new starters. Knowledge is lost and common questions are- how was this done? NordGen have prepared for a major personnel changes due to the 8-year rule by establishing a quality system for many of the operations to preserve knowledge and ensuring institutional memory. A quality system answers a multitude of questions, but not all. Th e positive thing is that innovative ideas about procedures are taken up by the new employees.

Th e year 2014 was also a year of other changes, the Ministers of Co-operation decided to change the management of the institutions. Aft er discussion between NordGen and NCM, a new contract for 2015-2017 was signed and it was decided to make the necessary changes of the Stadgar for the Institute and to have these in place from January 1 2015. Th e director is responsible for fi nance and employees and reports directly to the Secretary General of NCM and the board is to decide on principal questions, setting the scene and the working programs.

NordGen has in 2014 continued to focus on building a solid foundation for the fi nance. Th e budget component from NCM was 23.9 mSEK, while NordGen’s turnover was 34.3mSEK, NordGens results for 2014 is positive, with 245 tSEK. NordGens equity Dec 31 is 5.228 tSEK and is on the level set for the long-term budget. NordGen had in 2014 a stable and good liquidity.

NordGen is preparing a 20 years plan for the genebank. Regeneration in greenhouse and fi eld remains a priority and was record high in 2014. Totally 1699 accessions of 107 species were regenerated, 1125 internally and 574 externally, a great deal of the external at Tystoft e in Denmark fi nanced by the Danish Ministry for Business and Growth. Th e interest for the material is also growing rapidly, totally 9090 samples were sent out in 891 orders compared to 6.132 in 613 orders in 2013. Th e potato collection is in good shape and an important step was taken with a contract with In vitro Plant-tech AB i Malmö as a backup host for the collection.

Public Private Partnership for pre-breeding funded by the fi ve Nordic countries and the partnership members is a long-term-looking projects. Phase 1 - 2011-2014 has

1

brought challenges and NordGen has taken over more responsibility during the year and new fi nancial reporting guidelines for the next phase were drawn. All fi ve countries will continue to work on the same level in 2015-2017, but in addition, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden will strengthen the cooperation with additional funds for projects in the period 2015-2017.

NordGen Farm Animals has been staff ed by a section leader and two senior scientists during 2014. During 2014 there has been continued development of tools for optimal contribution selection as well consulting services to breeding and conservation organisations, as Finnsheep and Icelandic dairy. A course on Poultry semen collection and cryoconservation was held at Hvam in Norway and the work on the Nordic Brown Bee and NordMilk continued and new project on genetic characterisation of the Jutland cattle was initiated. A temporary employee worked for 6 monts on analysing the relevance of the concept sustainability to animal breeding and the employees have contributed to 5 papers published in international peer-reviewed journals.

NordGen Forest continued the work on awareness and adaptation to climate changes in 2014. Th e main results are that the forest sector is fully aware of climate change, but that such issues are poorly anchored in strategic documents and the sector is eager to get more information on how to adapt. Two thematic days were organized in 2014: one in Jyväskylä, Finland as part of the annual Forest nursery days and one in Stockholm. Th e annual NordGen Forest conference had focus on seed production “Need for seed - Nordic forests in coming decades”.

Th e year 2014 was the seventh year of regular operation of the SGSV. By the end of 2014, the SGSV held safety duplicates for 61 genebanks from around the world, housing 840 thousand samples. We take great pride in the role we play in this project together with LMD and the Crop Trust. Th e success of the SGSV has continued this year both measured in terms of participation from the global genebank community and in terms of public interest and awareness about the purpose of SGSV.

I want to thank the employees of NordGen for interest and active work during the year. To the many good friend that have left NordGen and the Nordic Council of Ministers, thanks for your support to NordGens work and I wish you well.

2

Plants

Crop group 2012 2013 2014Internal External Internal External Internal External

Cereals 161 55 680 48 709 505Grasses and forages 10 18 20 28 43 48Pulses, root crops and vegetables 113 10 170 7 115 -Oil and Industrial crops 6 - 11 - 8 -Ornamentals 36 1 16 1 69 -

326 110 897 84 944 553

Regeneration 2014

Regeneration of seeds must be done when seeds are getting old and the germination ability is reduced. Regeneration must also be done due to fi lling up the storage due to distribution or small quantities donated to the genebank. Th e aim over the last couple of years has been to improve the internal regeneration capacity and quality. Th e process has resulted in a new greenhouse, several new isolation tents, a net tunnel for cultivation, improved cleaning- and treasuring facilities, a new sowing machine and the implementation of a quality system. We are using fi elds at Lönstorp experimental farm in addition to greenhouses and fi elds at Trädgårdslabbet (both places rented from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences). As the Table shows we have almost 3-folded the internal regeneration in 2014 compared to previous

Table. Regeneration of genebank accessions of diff erent crop groups during the period 2011-2014. Material multiplied only for characterization or evaluation is not included in the fi gures. Internal means carried out by NordGen staff while External means carried out by partners.

years. Th e external regeneration has increased as well for grasses it has nearly doubled and for cereals it has been ten folded due to extraordinary resources provided by Denmark. Especially important is the partners in the Arctic region, where material adapted to such climates and latitudes can be handled.

Cereals: Regeneration in Alnarp took place at Lönstorp experimental farm (485 accessions), fi elds at Trädgårdslabbet (73 accessions), and in greenhouse (151 accessions). Of these 21 are wild relatives of cereals, 334 barley, 117 oat, 169 wheat, 4 rye accessions, 37 spelt, 10 diff erent Triticum sp., and 17 wild barley (Hordeum vulgare ssp. spontaneum). External regeneration was carried out in Lund in cooperation with Carlsberg, and

3

Plants

includes 16 mutant accessions of barley. Unfortunately the year 2014 gave many challenges in the regeneration fi elds due to weather conditions, attacks by hares, insects and plant diseases, so the number of accessions being harvested and put into storage was less than sown.

Grasses and forages: Internal regeneration has been done on grasses and clovers planted in 2014 and the number of accessions has more than doubled compared to previous years. We have continued to plant new accessions and have also improved the facilities, with a special focus on clover regeneration. External regeneration was done at Lännäs, Bioforsk Løken, and Bioforsk Landvik. Cultivation and species confi rmation was initiated for material sampled on old Icelandic meadows in 2013. A project was initiated on evaluation of red clover accessions for traits important for plant breeding in the Nordic region. Cultivation and evaluation is conducted in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Iceland.

Pulses, root crops and vegetables: In 2014 the following species were regenerated, onion, leek, dill, angelica, asparagus, diff erent types of cabbages, turnips, tomato, cucumber, cumin, carrot, peas, fava beans, soy bean, bean and a few herbal species as well. Characterization work has been done on 48 accessions of cabbages, 16 accessions of carrots, 16 accessions of dill, and characterisation has been done of three accessions of diff erent species.

Ornamentals: We have focused on regeneration and documentation of Nordic heritage varieties and cultural relict plants from historic sites in Denmark , in all 69 accessions. Th e collection of 28 accessions of Sweet William (Dianthus barbatus) was cultivated, described and photographed.

Potato and shallots: We have maintained the Nordic potato collection as in vitro (70 accessions), and initiated the work to establish a back-up copy of the in vitro collection. Th e fi eld collection consists of 4 accepted accessions that need to be cleaned from pathogens, 4 accessions held on temporary basis, and 33 accessions with status pending as they are under evaluation. Disease elimination of two varieties from the fi eld collection has been initiated, and will continue during 2015. Th e goal is to incorporate them into the in vitro collection and get them approved for distribution by the Swedish Board of Agriculture. We have multiplied pathogen free tubers of 20 of the accessions for distribution in 2015. We temporarily maintain a back-up of part of the national collections of shallots/potato onions (38 accessions).

4

NordGen distributes seed material upon request to plant breeders, researchers, museums, NGOs, but also to private users who have a specifi c interest in seed saving and in maintaining old or rare varieties. NordGen has a germplasm data base (SESTO) available online, which includes passport data for all accessions, an online seed ordering system and a system for electronic confi rmation of Material Transfer Agreements.

Th e interest in the material maintained by NordGen has continued to increase also in 2014. During 2014, a total of 9185 seed samples were delivered to researchers, breeders, private users and other requesters. Th is can be compared with the 6 190 seed samples delivered during 2013, and is an increase of 48 %.

Th e orders for research purposes increased in 2014 by 81 % compared to 2013, while for breeding it remained the same, see fi gure 1. For training, conservation and production the number of samples stayed more or less at the same level in 2014 as in 2013, see fi gure 2. Th e distribution of seed samples to museums and similar institutions increased by 8 %, see fi gure 2. Included here is material delivered to local heritage societies, in collaboration with the Swedish Local Heritage Movement (“Sveriges Hembygdsförbund”). Th e landraces and older varieties, which the museums and the local heritage societies ordered, were for use in exhibition gardens for the public, with the aim of increasing the awareness and knowledge of the Nordic region´s cultural heritage of plants.

Utilization of plant genetic resources during 2014

Plants

Th e established seed ordering system for hobby growers, in which private users are off ered an assortment of interesting accessions of older varieties of Nordic origin, was very much appreciated by the public also during 2014. In all, 5 136 seed samples were delivered to this group of users, which is a signifi cant increase compared with the 3 288 samples delivered in 2013. Th is means that 56% of the total distribution of seed samples during 2014 was delivered for private, non-commercial use, see fi gure 3.

As much as 99% of the material delivered for private use was sent to customers in the Nordic countries, whereas the seed requesters ordering material for research, breeding, demonstration and other purposes were more international, with 41 % of the seed samples delivered to users in countries outside the Nordic region.

NordGen has since 2011 produced potato tubers of selected heritage cultivars for distribution, earlier years this was done by an external actor. In 2014 NordGen off ered 19 diff erent cultivars of potatoes for distribution. Over the years the interest in these heritage cultivars of potatoes has increased, see fi gure 4. NordGen has in 2014 distributed 591 samples of potato tubers to 137 requesters, of these 3 belonged to diff erent institutions. 73 % of the samples were sent to addresses in Sweden, 13 % to Denmark, 13 % to Finland and 1 % to other countries. Due to phytosanitary regulations potato tubers cannot be sent to Norway.

Figure 4. Number of potato tuber samples delivered per year.

5

Plants

Figure 1. Number of seed samples delivered for the purpose of

research and breeding

Figure 2. Number of seed samples delivered for the purpose

of demonstration, training, conservation and production.

Figure 3. Total number of seed samples delivered and number

of seed samples delivered for the purpose of private, non-

commercial use.

6

Forest

Review of NordGen Forest 2014

Th e main aim of NordGen Forest is to promote sustainable Nordic forestry by providing and facilitating exchange of information about supply of seeds and plants, methods for regeneration and long-term conservation of forest tree genetic resources. We actively disseminate scientifi c and applied knowledge by organizing thematic days and conferences, and by initiating and taking part in research and development projects. NordGen Forest has two bodies, each with members from all Nordic countries:

• Th e NordGen Forest Regeneration Council (Council) exchanges information on regeneration issues, discusses various topics of interest for Nordic forestry and plans and organizes conferences and thematic days for a broad audience. Th e Council awards annually the NordGen Forest scholarships.

• Th e NordGen Forest Working Group on Genetic Resources (WG) ensures cooperation on conservation and use of forest genetic resources and organizes an annual seminar.

Conservation of genetic resources

Th e annual meeting of the WG was held in March close to Helsinki, and back to back with the fi rst Council meeting. In 2013 a questionnaire on awareness and adaptation to climate changes was submitted to the main forestry and breeding organizations in the Nordic countries. Th e main results are that the forest sector is fully aware of climate change, but that such issues are poorly anchored in strategic documents. Accordingly, forestry is eager to get more information on how to adapt. Th e WG will prepare a popular science article about these results, and the NordGen Forest secretariat will use them as guidance for future dissemination work.

By the end of 2014 the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food decided to have the fi rst deposit of forest seeds at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV) on 26 February 2015. NordGen therefore invited Nordic bodies responsible for management of forest tree seeds to prepare a joint deposit of seeds the following year.

Sustainable use of FGR

Th e project Cooperation in breeding of Norway spruce, funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers, ended in 2014 and contributed to a wrap up meeting in Uppsala for discussing provision of provenance trial data of Norway spruce. Th e data will be used for estimating new deployment areas for Norway spruce provenances. Th is will facilitate exchange of seeds among and within countries, and increase the robustness of forest seed supply in the Nordic area. Nordic cooperation in breeding of Norway spruce, as well as the initiative to store forest seeds at SGSV, are specifi c follow ups of the Selfoss Declaration (http://norden.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:764729/FULLTEXT01.pdf).

Scholarships were granted to four applicants within the fi elds of genetic resources, seed supply and regeneration.

7

International activities

Members of the NordGen Forest secretariat and national representatives in the Council and WG participate on behalf of their countries in FAO, OECD Forest Seed and Plant Scheme and EUFORGEN.

Information and networking

Two thematic days were organized in 2014: one in Jyväskylä, Finland as part of the annual Forest nursery days with about hundred participants, and one in Stockholm (Th e genetic resources of forest trees - a treasure chest for use and conservation), including 10 presentations and visited by about 50 participants.

Th e annual NordGen Forest conference in 2014, Need for seed - Nordic forests in coming decades, was held in Son, Norway. 14 presentations were given and about 40 participants joined the event, which also included a fi eld trip to Hoxmark, the experimental farm of the Norwegian Forest and Landscape Institute.

Th ese arrangements are an important part of dissemination work of NordGen Forest as they gather representatives from the operational forestry, management and scientifi c community for discussions and debate. Although the Council is the principal organizer, national contributions are indispensable for this high level of activity. Due to a wish for improved coordination and networking amongst the NordGen Forest bodies and the SNS, a joint meeting between the Council, WG and SNS was organised in March in Helsinki.

Th e staff of NordGen Forest has published two articles in the NordGen Annual Review, and six articles on the NordGen webpage together with contributors from the networks, in addition to announcements, updates and more general information about NordGen Forest activities. During 2014, a set of NordGen Forest roll-ups were produced in all the Nordic languages – one for each language.

Forest

8

Farm animals

Review of NordGen Farm Animals

NordGen Farm Animals is a coordinating unit and a competence and information center that contributes to the characterization, conservation and sustainable utilization of farm animal genetic resources in the Nordic countries.

A new Senior Scientist was employed in January 2014, and NordGen has thus been staff ed by a section leader and two senior scientists during 2014. In addition project funding allowed for the recruitment of a temporary employment for 6 month from September 1st 2014. In 2014 positions were fi lled for a total of 40 man months.

Conservation of genetic resource

During 2014 NordGen has contributed to several activities on characterisation of animal genetic resources.

NordGen organised and funded a course on Poultry semen collection and cryoconservation. Th e course was taught by Prof. Konstantin Tselutin and had participants from all *Nordic countries. Th e aim was to establish expertise on cryoconservation of poultry semen and this is currently in the process of being implemented in Finland and Norway.

An expert group on biobanking was established. Th e objective of the group is to summarise potential benefi ts of Nordic collaboration on biobanking, primarily focusing on the livestock sector. Th e expert group is expected to deliver its report in 2015.

A nordic network NordMilk for functional characterisation of milk from native nordic cattle breeds was established in 2013. Two network meetings has been held in 2014 in addition to several virtual meetings. Th e network activities has focused on coordinating national activities related to characterisation of milk from native breeds as well as application for funding for cross-national activities. Th e network has been represented with poster presentations at international scientifi c meetings.

NordGen participated as an observer in eights session of the Intergovernmental Technical Working Group on Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture of

9

Farm animals

FAO. Prior to the meeting a Nordic workshop was held by NordGen to prepare Nordic national coordinators for the meeting.

During 2014 work has continued on a report of the status of the Brown Bee in the Nordic countries. Th e report “Status and Conservation of the Nordic Brown Bee: Final report” was published in early 2015 and is available from NordGen’s homepage.

NordGen contributed to the genetic characterisation of the Jutland cattle in Denmark. Th e results has been published in the paper

Pertoldi, C, Purfi eld DC, Berg P, Jensen TH, Bach OS, Vingborg R, Kristensen TN. 2014.Genetic characterization of a herd of the endangered Danish Jutland cattle. J. Anim. Sci. 92:2372-2376

Sustainable use of genetic resources

NordGen was a partner as well as the project manager for the NordForsk funded research network “Nordic Research Network on Animal Genetic Resources in the Adaptation to Climate Change (AnGR-NordicNET)” from 2011 to 2013. Th e fi nal conference for this and three other networks was scheduled for January 2014, see climate.nordgen.org for details. NordGen was the prime organiser of this conference. Proceedings from the meeting is avilable from http://climate.nordgen.org. As a result of the project NordGen staff has contributed to two scientifi c papers

Boettcher PJ, Hoff mann I, Baumung R, Drucker AG, McManus C, Berg P, Stella A, Nilsen LB, Moran D, Naves M and Th ompson MC (2014). Genetic resources and genomics for adaptation of livestock to climate change. Front. Genet. 5:461. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2014.00461

Kantanen J, Løvendahl P, Strandberg E, Eythorsdottir E, Li M-H, Kettunen-Præbel A, Berg P and Meuwissen T (2015) Utilization of farm animal genetic resources in a changing agro-ecological environment in the Nordic countries. Front. Genet. 6:52. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2015.00052

10

Farm animals

During 2014 NordGen Farm Animals has continued development of tools for optimal contribution selection as well consulting services to breeding and conservation organisations. A workshop on optimal contribution selection for the Norwegian breeding organisations was held in October 2014. Th e largest breeding organisations in dairy, pig and sheep are now in the process of implementing optimal contribution selection.

Activities on sustainable breeding was initiated in 2014. Th is included the recruitment of a temporary employee to work on analysing the relevance of the concept sustainability to animal breeding. In addition NordGen Farm Animals has worked with two breeding organisations, Finnsheep and Icelandic dairy on sustainability in general and particularly the implementation of optimal contribution selection as an integral part of this. In addition this has resulted in more specifi c studies of short and long-term eff ects of animal breeding schemes, published in the papers

Henryon M., Berg P. Sørensen AC. 2014. Animal-breeding schemes using genomic information need breeding plans designed to maximise long-term genetic gains. Livestock Science 166:38-47

Liu H, Sørensen AC, Meuwissen THE, Berg P. 2014. Allele frequency changes due to hitch-hiking in genomic selection programs. Genetics Selection Evolution 46:8

Information and networking

NordGen Council for Farm Animal Genetic Resources was established in February 2010. Th e aim of this network of experts is to develop a role division between NordGen and national actors and to facilitate an active dialogue between NordGen and national stakeholders. Th e Council contributes to the development of yearly activities of NordGen Farm Animals. Th e Council had two meetings in 2014; in Iceland and Norway. Members of the Council participated in workshops held in Norway.

NordGen employees have contributed to 5 papers published in international peer-reviewed journals.

International activities

Peer Berg participated in the ERFP workshop (29th-30th of August) in Copenhagen. Linn Groeneveld, Anne Præbel and Peer Berg participated in the 10th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production in Canada (18t-22 of August).

Staff members have reviewed 7 scientifi c papers submitted for international scientifi c journals and given lectures at NMBU in Norway and University of Göttingen, Germany. NordGen Farm Animals staff has contributed to supervision of 4 Ph.D. students enrolled at Nordic universities and chairing the advisory board of the Erasmus Mundus funded Ph.D program EGS-ABG European Graduate School in Animal Breeding and Genetics.

Peer Berg acts as chair of the advisory board for GENSAP, Center for Genomic Selection in Animals and Plants.

NordGen staff members have participated as observers in national animal genetic resource council meetings in Finland and Norway, and provided a presentation to the Advisory Board on Animal Genetic Resources in Denmark.

11

Svalbard Global Seed Vault

Svalbard Global Seed Vault

NordGen is responsible for the operation and management of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV) according to our three-party agreement with the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food and the Global Crop Diversity Trust.

Th e objective of the seed vault is to provide a safety net for the international conservation system of plant genetic resources, and to contribute to the securing of the maximum amount of plant genetic diversity of importance to humanity for the long term. Th e success of the SGSV has continued this year both measured in terms of participation from the global genebank community and in terms of public interest and awareness about the purpose of SGSV. By the end of 2014, the SGSV held close to 840 thousand safety duplicates representing wide inter- and intra-specifi c crop diversity deposited by 61 genebanks from around the world.

Th e SGSV is a fl agship project for NordGen and 2014 was the seventh year of operation. We take great pride in the role we play in this project and I take this opportunity to thank our partners LMD and the Crop Trust for the good collaboration. I would also like to thank Statsbygg for the excellent working relationship we have at Svalbard.

2014 at a glance

• Altogether 38,052 new safety duplicates from 15 depositors were stored in the SGSV 2014. Th is increased holdings by about 5% and the total holding by the end of the year was 839,801 samples.

• By the end of the year chamber two is fi lled to 81% of its current capacity.

• Two new institutions from Austria and Bulgaria signed the Deposit Agreement and made their fi rst deposits in 2014. Two additional institutes from Japan and India made their fi rst deposit while their Deposit Agreement had been signed earlier.

• Media and public interest continued and in line with our communication mandate NordGen hosted selected media visits, gave interviews and presented the Seed Vault at science and policy conferences.

12

IT & Documentation

NordGen documentation & IT section provides documentation and IT support to all sections of NordGen as well as documentation support to the Nordic national programs for plant genetic resources. During the larger part of 2014 the section has had three full time staff members.

SESTO

Th e genebank documentation system SESTO, originally developed at the Nordic Genebank during the 80’s and now maintained and continually improved at NordGen.

Several new features in Sesto was completed during 2014. Th is includes reporting functionality for vegetatively propagated materials, tracking of changes for the selected fi elds in Sesto, grouping of accessions, new map features for the collection location, extended validation during input and a new dialog for entering new materials in the seedlab with automatic loading of weight from the waves. Order system has been automated further with automatic generation of cover letters. New concepts have been developed for the presentation of Characterisation and evaluation data and an advanced search page. During the end of the year, work began to lift the underlying application and database platform of SESTO to a newer version.

National Programs

NordGen has supported national programs in the use of SESTO for vegetatively propagated agricultural crops. During 2014 SESTO specially developed concerning reporting features for vegetatively propagated materials. For the Danish national program accessions of fruit, berries and vegetables, preserved on Pometet and Årslev, has been put in Sesto. A work on a mobile app for iPhones for the Danish apple key has started. Work on entering data from Lithuania in Sesto was started in 2014. Th e Swedish national program inventory database was developed further, by including photo archive.

In September a three-day workshop about Sesto and PGR documentation with participants from the Nordic and Baltic countries was held partly funded by NMR’s Nordic Baltic Mobility Programme.

Technical Support

Support to NordGen staff on technical infrastructure such as computers, soft ware, network, printers etc. is an important task for the documentation & IT section. At the end of 2014 NordGen changed out their landline to a Web-based IP telephony solution. New hardware for all servers in NordGens server has been installed and work with the confi guration of a new server infrastructure is underway. NordGens two greenhouses have been equipped with systems for temperature logging and temperature alarm. An intranet was set up at the end of the year, among other things, to better integrate the department in Norway.

IT & Documentation

13

Public Private Partnership

PPP for Pre-Breeding in plants

Th e PPP collaboration is built on a dialogue that originally took place between the agricultural ministries, plant breeding industries and academia back in 2008 to 2009. In the fi rst phase 2011-2013, tree projects have successfully been established and achieved valuable results. It was decided at the Ministerial summer meeting in Åre in Sweden 2013 to continue the work and support from the countries in 2014 on the same level as in the pilot phase and use the time until the next Ministerial meeting to prepare and to explore the possibilities for expansion of the collaboration into more crops and traits.

To prepare for the next phase, NordGen in cooperation with the Steering Committee for PPP and the Agricultural University of Iceland, organised a meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland in February 2014 on “Visions for Nordic Pre-breeding Collaboration” with support from the Icelandic Chairmanship of the Nordic Council of Ministers. Participants came from plant breeding entities, universities, national ministries from all Nordic and Baltic countries.

In a memo based on discussions at workshop the following breeding goals were highlighted:

Increase nutrient use effi ciency to ensure food availability for an increasing human population, and at the same time reduce our environmental footprint.

Increase yield stability to meet expected increases in fl uctuations and extreme events in climate. Th is is of special importance for crops for marginal areas such as the Northern regions in a wide range of crops, such as cereals, forages and oil crops.Increase genetic resistance to pests and pathogens. Plants are continuously exposed to a variety of pests and pathogens, which cause signifi cant global crop losses and threaten global food security.

Th e interaction between plants and pathogens are complex and climate change is predicted to not only change these complex interactions but also increase the spread of pathogens to new geographic areas. Genetic resistance is the most environmentally friendly and cost effi cient measure for crop protection. Long term investments in resistance breeding and integrated pest management have the potential to strengthen the Nordic bio-based economy. Reduction in the need of chemicals to combat biotic stress will increase competitiveness and allow Nordic farming to work towards more environmentally sustainable practices.

Adaptation to Arctic/Northern growing conditions. All crops growing in the Nordic countries have to be adapted to the local climate as well as to the short growing season and the large diff erences in day length between summer and winter. Th e better adapted they are, the better they will perform and thereby increasing the production.

Northern shift of cultivation area of crops in response to climate change. When the climate change it will be possible to cultivate crops in the Nordic region that we have not been able to cultivate before. However, it is generally not possible to simply move southern crops to the north. Th e day length is an important trigger in many species and aff ect when a plant will fl ower and set seed, which in turn aff ects crop yields.

Public Private Partnership

14

Some actions where highlighted that would strengthen the pre-breeding and breeding sector:

Support technology development, such as high throughput phenotyping and high throughput genotyping/genomics.

Strategic testing sites to get more precise estimates of traits and therefore result in faster and more precise breeding.

Make competence in bioinformatics available to breeders in a bioinformatics center with services tailor-made for breeders.

Long term funding targeted at pre-breeding and funding targeted at bridging the gap between basic research and breeding.

Strengthen breeding knowledge and competence by supporting the common Nordic master/PhD courses and increased visibility of breeding companies at Nordic Universities.

15

Facts and fi gures

Th e main mission of the Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen) is to safeguard genetic resources of plants, farm animals and forest trees of Nordic origin relevant for food and agriculture. Forest trees are generally conserved in their natural environment - in situ. Farm animals are conserved through sustainable breeding programs and plants ex situ by storing seeds or maintaining vegetatively propagated material in clonal archives.

NordGen manages and has the operational responsibility for the seed gene bank that operates on behalf of all the Nordic countries. Th e active gene bank is at Alnarp in Sweden, the base collection is at Årslev in Denmark and the security storage is in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV), Norway. NordGen has the operative responsibility for the SGSV. However, storage in gene banks is not suffi cient to secure the genetic resources for the future: they also need to be utilized.

In order to be able to use forest tree, farm animal and plant genetic resources, there has to be free access to information on them. NordGen therefore puts considerable emphasis on characterizing genetic resources and developing specialized databases for them. Th e networks and information activities are vitally important if NordGen is to fulfi ll its mission.

Facts and fi gures 2014

Staff

NordGen is an independent institution under the Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM). It is organized into three departments: Forest, Farm Animals and Plants. Th e fi rst two are co-located with the Center of Forest and Landscape at the University of Life Science in Ås, Norway, while the Plant department and the administration unit are located in Sweden at the Alnarp campus of the Swedish Agricultural University (SLU).

NordGen has 30 employees or 26.95 person years, 2.0 of which are allocated to Farm Animals, 0.45 to Forest and 14.5 to Plants. Under NCM regulations, the duration of contracts within a Nordic institution is a maximum of 8 years.

In 2014 all Nordic countries are represented on the staff . Th e gender profi le is 50% male and 50% female. Th e average age of NordGen personnel is 45.15 years.

Economic report

For reporting purposes, activities are split into two fi elds according to our mission: conservation of genetic resources and sustainable utilization of genetic resources. General administration and management are reported separately.

Th e budget component from NCM was 23.9 MSEK, while NordGen’s turnover was 34.3MSEK, with a result of 0.25 MSEK. Th e various sources of fi nance and the costs, broken down into fi elds of activity, are given in the following pie chart.

International projects

NordGen has the operational responsibility of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV), fi nanced by Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Norway and Global Crop Diversity Trust.

Income Conservation Utilization Adm. TotalNMR Budget 11 112 7 178 5 630 23 920Project means NMR 125 1 674 - 1 799National support 1 641 1 350 - 2 991External project means * 3 806 912 - 4 718Other sources 25 612 233 870Total Income 16 709 11 726 5 618 34 053Total Costs 18 063 11 726 5618 34 053Annual balance 0 0 245 245

* Include project SGSV, Svalbard Global Seed Vault 1 968 tSEK, fi nanced by Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Norway

16

Member Deputy

DenmarkAnne-Katharine Mandrup Birgitte LundNaturEhrvervstyrelsen NaturEhrvervstyrelsen Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries

Finland Marja Savonmäki Tuula PehuMinistry of Agriculture and Forestry Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

Iceland Áslaug Helgadóttir, chairman Jón Hallsteinn HallssonAgricultural University of Iceland Agricultural University of Iceland

NorwaySverre Bjørnstad Ivar EkangerGeno Ministry of Agriculture and Food

SwedenAnders Lönnblad, until Aug 2014 Helena Ewenfält, until Aug 2014Fredrik Alfer, from September 2014 Catharina Stenberg-Blom, from September 2014Ministry for Rural Aff airs Ministry for Rural Aff airs

Th e employee representative from NordGen was Jonas Nordling. Th e representative from the Nordic Council of Ministers was Mads Randbøll Wolff ,Senior Adviser, and Mats Ekenger was deputy

ObserversEnvironment observer was Johan Bodegård.Faroe Islands observer was Rólvur Djurhuus.

Th e board met fi ve times in 2014.

Th e NordGen board members are appointed by the Nordic Council of ministers and the executive Committee for Fisheries and Aquaculture, Agriculture, Food and Forestry. Th e board consists of fi ve members and fi ve deputies, an employee representative from NordGen, a representative/deputy from the Nordic Council of ministers, a observers appointed by NMR Environment and observer from Faroe Islands.

NordGen board

17

Administration Árni Bragason, Director Eva Jorup Engström, Financial Manager, until march 2014 Carina Frankel, Financial Manager, from April 2014 Birgitta Svensson, Financial Offi cer, from March 2014 Annica Nilsson, Administrative Coordinator, until August 2014 Sara Ingelstrand, Administrative CoordinatorIT and documnetation Jonas Nordling, IT Manager Petra Bratt Stamborg, System Developer, parental leave fr. Oct 2014 Kjell-Åke Lundblad, System Devloperer Martin Forsén, System AdministratorSvalbard Global Seed Vault Ola Westengen, Coordinator of Operation and Management, SGSV Roland von Bothmer, Public relations, SGSVPlants Agnese Kolodinska Brantestam, Senior Scientist, until March 2014 Anna Palmé, Senior Scientist Lena Ansebo, Senior Scientist Jan Svensson, Senior Scientist, from January 2014 Morten Rasmussen, Senior Advisor & International Coordinator Svein Øivind Solberg, Senior Scientist Simon Jeppson, Seed Store Offi cer Eva Johnsson, Seed Technician Ingrid Munke, Seed Technician Johan Axelsson, Seed Technician Pawel Chrominski, Seed Scientist Annelie Th ornberg, Field Technician Fredrik Ottosson, Genetic Resources Offi cer, until March 2014 Jette Nydam Hansen, Genetic Resources Offi cer, from January 2014 Alfi a Khairullina, Laboratory Technician, until January 2014 Karolina Härnström Aloisi, Manager Molecular Laboratory, fr. Jan 2014 Udda Lundqvist, Scientist EmeritaSummer Staff Jerker Niss Malin Wibeck Larsson Farm Animals Peer Berg, Section Leader Anne Kettunen Praebel, Senior Scientist Linn Fenna Groeneveld, Senior Scientist, from January 2014 Maja Winther Iversen, Assistant scientist, from september 2014Forest Tor Myking, Section Leader Kjersti Bakkebö Fjellstad, Senior Scientist Jörn Henrik Sönstebö, Senior Scientist

NordGen staff

Summary

18

Plants

Regeneration in greenhouse and fi eld remains a priority and was record high in 2014. Totally 1699 accessions of 107 species were regenerated, 1125 internally and 574 externally, a great deal of the external at Tystoft e in Denmark fi nanced by the Danish Ministry for Business and Growth. Th e interest for the material is also growing rapidly, totally 9090 samples were sent out in 891 orders compared to 6.132 in 613 orders in 2013. Th e potato collection is in good shape and an important step was taken with a contract with In vitro Plant-tech AB i Malmö as a backup host for the collection.

Animals

NordGen Farm Animals has during 2014 continued the development of tools for optimal contribution selection as well consulting services to breeding and conservation organisations, as Finnsheep and Icelandic dairy. A course on Poultry semen collection and cryoconservation was held at Hvam in Norway and the work on the Nordic Brown Bee and NordMilk continued and new project on genetic characterisation of the Jutland cattle was initiated.

Forest

NordGen Forest continued the work on awareness and adaptation to climate changes in 2014. Th e main results are that the forest sector is fully aware of climate change, but that such issues are poorly anchored in strategic documents and the sector is eager to get more information on how to adapt.

Svalbard

Th e year 2014 was the seventh year of regular operation of the SGSV. By the end of 2014, the SGSV held safety duplicates for 61 genebanks from around the world, housing 840 thousand samples. We take great pride in the role we play in this project together with LMD and the Crop Trust. Th e success of the SGSV has continued this year both measured in terms of participation from the global genebank community and in terms of public interest and awareness about the purpose of SGSV.

Public Private Partnership

Public Private Partnership for pre-breeding funded by the fi ve Nordic countries and the partnership members is a long-term-looking projects. All fi ve countries will continue to work on the same level in 2015-2017, but in addition, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden will strengthen the cooperation with additional funds for projects in the period 2015-2017. To prepare for the next phase, NordGen in cooperation with the Steering Committee for PPP and the Agricultural University of Iceland, organised a meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland in February 2014 on “Visions for Nordic Pre-breeding Collaboration” with support from the Icelandic Chairmanship of the Nordic Council of Ministers. Participants came from plant breeding entities, universities, national ministries from all Nordic and Baltic countries.

NordGen has in 2014 continued to focus on building a solid foundation for the fi nance. Th e budget component from NCM was 23.9 mSEK, while NordGen’s turnover was 34.3mSEK, NordGens results for 2014 is positive, with 245 tSEK. NordGens equity Dec 31 is 5.228 tSEK and is on the level set for the long-term budget. NordGen had in 2014 a stable and good liquidity.

19

NordGen publication series 2015:01