Our core competence and mission is to develop new and improved plant varieties, test and represent imported varieties, and producing pre-basic seed for further multiplication and marketing by seed companies.   Graminor was established in 2002 by merging Norwegian plant research and development into one company. We have a staff of 30 and an annual turn-over of 50 million NOK. License fees and sale of breeding services are our main sources of income.

The company operates from Bjørke Research Station, near the city of Hamar in south-eastern Norway, where we have out head office, modern greenhouses and fields for research, breeding and testing new varieties of cereals, potatoes and forage grasses. Testing of grass varieties for the northern regions take place at Bioforsk Nord in Tromsø, and of fruit and berries at Njøs Research Station in Sogn og Fjordane and Sagaplant in Telemark.

Owners

Graminor is owned by the farmers´ co-operative Felleskjøpet Agri 36.7 %, The Ministry of Agriculture and Food 34 %, the Swedish company Lantmännen 15.1 %, and the farmers´ co-operatives Strand Unikorn 9.4 % and Gartnerhallen 4.8 %.

Co-operation

Our owners are also important customers and breeding partners. We also have extensive collaboration with Norwegian and foreign research institutions, plant breeders and -dealers in breeding representation, marketing and sale. The purpose is to reduce research and development costs, give Norwegian farmers access to imported plant material suitable for our conditions, and to achieve a larger market for our plant varieties.

In 2006-2011, we participate in 11 national and international breeding programs. One of these is an international project to map the chromosomes of the wheat genom, which is expected to enhance Norwegian plant breeding generally.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

In Norway commercial agriculture is carried out farther north than in any other country. Our short growing season with low temperatures, great variations in daylight and challenging winters give few other countries similar growing conditions to ours. Plant varieties adapted to our northern conditions are essential for efficient and profitable food production in all parts of the country.

Our most important breeding goals are to develop varieties which provide high and stable production of good quality, high tolerance to diseases, and adaptation to anticipated climate changes as well as consumer preferences and environmental requirements.

Plant research and development require time, knowledge and capital, and involves great risks. Developing new and improved varieties take 10 to 20 years from start till official final approval, depending on the species.

Our research and breeding activities are based on traditional methods with crossing, selection and testing of new plant material, and on biotechnological methods. We are constantly seeking new technologies, procedures and selection methods to produce improved varieties faster, more cheaply and at less risk than at present.

ACTIVITIES

Graminor operates within four main areas.

Our research and breeding programs in barley, oats, rye and wheat, represent more than half of our breeding activities. As a result of genetic improvements, Norwegian barley production has had an annual productivity growth of one per cent. Wheat production for human consumption has increased from three-four per cent in the early 1970's to more than 70 per cent in good harvest years after 2000, mainly due to genetic progress.

More than 30 per cent of the farm area is used for cereal production, concentrated in relatively flat regions of south-eastern and mid-Norway.

Plant breeding services

Graminor initiates and delivers breeding services in forage grasses, potatoes, fruits and berries to The Ministry of Agriculture and Food. The purpose is to increase cost-efficiency and profitability in these productions. The license fees are insufficient to cover the development costs of these crops, which are essential to farming and food production in all parts of the country.

Forage grasses cover 65 per cent of farmland, mainly in northern and western Norway and the mountainous regions.

There is a growing consumer demand for Norwegian produced fruit and berries, which are mostly produced in the southern and south-western parts of the country.

Import of plant material

Graminor´s strategy is to test and represent imported plant material in the Norwegian market, rather than having the cost of developing new varieties, if it is possible to find adapted foreign material. The varieties has to meet our national standards for winter hardiness, early ripening, quality and other concerns.

Pre-basic production

Graminor is responsible for production and import of pre-basic seeds of cereals, fodder grasses and potatoes. Elite seedlings of berries and fruit are produced of in collaboration with the company Sagaplant. The pre-basic material is sold mainly to seed- and plant companies for multiplication and sale to Norwegian farmers. We are not operating in the retail market.

MARKET POSITION

Graminor has a strong position in the home market. Cereal varieties which we have developed have a market share of 40 per cent, forage grasses 60 per cent and potatoes 30 per cent, while our fruit and berry varieties have only a minor share of the market. In addition we represent many popular imported agricultural and horticultural types.

Our aim is to increase export of Graminor´s produced varieties to other Scandinavian countries and to the Baltic, which have some of the same growing conditions as Norway.