Five questions and answers about food safety
How can Norway’s food security force? We ask division director Hildegunn Norheim in the division for maps and statistics at the Norwegian Institute for Bioeconomics (Nibio).
1. What is food security?
– Food safety is a human right, enshrined in the UN Convention. “Food security means that all people, at all times, have physical and financial access to enough, safe and nutritious food that covers their nutritional needs and food references so that they can live an active and healthy life,” Norheim refers.
– There is a strong increase in food insecurity globally. Norway has low self-sufficiency, and 60 percent of the Norwegian people’s food energy crosses the national border. Food and energy are weapons in geopolitical conflicts.
2. What is most important to ensure Norwegian food security?
– It rests on three pillars.
- A high and stable production of food and feed in Norway, based on our own resources. If Norwegian food production weakens as a result of national agricultural policy, the economy of agriculture, climate change in Norway or structural conditions, then the most important pillar of Norwegian food security will also become more unstable.
- Take care of the production base in Norway in the form of topsoil. We must also take care of the plant and livestock genetic resources that have been developed over a long time and adapted to the Norwegian climate.
- A well-functioning international trade and logistics in the global food supply chains. It can be threatened by weakened production of food and feed in other countries, as well as the increasingly uncertain geopolitical situation.
3. Which measures should be prioritized?
– In the event of a sudden and serious failure in the food system, a shortage of goods or a price shock, emergency storage for grain will be part of the solution, as the government has prioritized. When the changes are permanent, we must ensure a high and stable production of food and feed in Norway. We must take care of the agricultural areas, ensure that Norwegian farmers have stable and good framework conditions, so that they continue to produce food, she says.
– Production in Norway must be increased when the world’s climate becomes more demanding. Increased monitoring of global food production and food trade – and a good overview of the supply chains for our imports. We need better knowledge of how seafood can contribute to Norwegian food security.>
4. How can Norway become more self-sufficient?
– The figures in the public debate show what proportion of the calories are produced in Norway, either only on Norwegian resources or also based on imported goods. The figures do not show how self-sufficient we are in various foodstuffs and goods.
– Increased production of milk and meat is not the way to significantly increased self-sufficiency. There are food grains, protein-rich feed, sugar, fruit, berries and vegetables where self-sufficiency is low. This means producing more of the products that are possible in Norway. Norway needs a thorough analysis of food safety and supply risk. We must protect the soil resources and take care of the farmers.
5. What should research focus on in the future?
– There are several needs, Norheim points out:
- Ensure Norwegian food security through stable and increasing Norwegian food production. It means how we can develop robust Norwegian agriculture in a changing climate.
- Better knowledge base for land policy. Strengthened research on the development of plants and livestock in light of a changing climate.
- Monitor developments in international food markets and conditions that may affect trade and transport.
Article was first published in the TU magazine, no. 10/2022