Political Priorities

Efforts to ensure sustainable food systems and to secure the supply of nutritious food are of central importance to all of the Nordic countries. Most of the agricultural land in the Nordic Region is used to cultivate grass for animal feed, grains and other crops. The Nordic countries have been collaborating in relation to genetic resources within agriculture and forestry for decades already, and they have opted for a common strategy for the management of Nordic genetic resources in the form of NordGen (the Nordic Genetic Resource Center). Reindeer herding is a practice in Finland, Norway and Sweden, and this activity also crosses borders in some places between Sweden and Norway. Dairy and meat production are important activities in all countries, with Denmark occupying a special position in relation to pork production. Fishing and aquaculture are practices of considerable importance for Norway, Denmark, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and for Greenland, while Finland and Sweden are the largest producers of timber and other forest products from Nordic forestry. The sectors that make up the FJLS policy area have undergone – and are still undergoing – continuous adjustments and optimisation processes, not least in order to ensure continued financial profitability under changing circumstances.

The primary priorities for the FJLS policy area over the coming years are as follows: to promote a continued green transition towards sustainable food systems that entail the healthy, sustainable and resilient supply of food for a growing Nordic population, a health-promoting, secure and sustainable diet, robust breeds/species and breeding stock, good animal welfare and good animal and plant health. A fundamental prerequisite in making this possible is to boost competitiveness within FJLS production sectors through knowledge-based and sustainable management practices, sustainable use of resources and the production and further processing of renewable raw materials. It is necessary to bolster both national and regional resilience within the FJLS sectors in order thereby to contribute to greater food security. 

Nordic co-operation is necessary in order to find solutions and make the necessary trade-offs to fulfil these prioritised goals. Food safety in the Nordic Region is generally good, but extreme weather, supply-chain vulnerabilities, pollution and the spread of foreign and potentially harmful species are all examples of potential future challenges. Increasing the competitiveness of the bio-based industries will be crucial if we are to bolster food security; however, this also faces challenges from our commitments to reduce emissions, protect biodiversity and achieve greater levels of sustainability in how we manage our natural resources. The green transition can also pose a challenge to production goals within agriculture, forestry, fisheries, aquaculture and reindeer herding. For example, issues relating to spatial management can arise as it becomes increasingly necessary to use areas on land and at sea for an ever growing number of purposes. This leads to greater competition for spatial use on both land and sea.

New ideas, innovations and resources for projects that could have greater impact can contribute to solutions that promote competitive production and other societal benefits, without compromising on environmental and climate goals. Many of the solutions transcend both sectoral and national boundaries, and this means that our plan for engagement is affected by disparate agendas and objectives. It is therefore of considerable importance that we retain political consensus around our efforts to achieve the global goals – especially as major challenges remain for meeting these goals by 2030.

The Joint Statement by the Nordic Prime Ministers on a Sustainable Ocean Economy and the Green Transition demonstrates the impact that political consensus can lend to Nordic co-operation.  The goals of this statement span common research efforts, enhanced knowledge exchange and greater Nordic participation within international initiatives and collaboration processes for sustainable ocean management. These goals have been given concrete shape via a number of initiatives within the ocean policy area and they will also serve as guidelines for the MR-FJLS co-operation programme 2025–2030.

It is clear that the needs within the FJLS policy area are both multiple and far in excess of the resources currently available for national and joint Nordic sectoral initiatives. Regional co-operation is therefore sensible in that it makes it possible to maximise the benefit of national efforts within a broader Nordic perspective, and to lay a better groundwork for synergies and exchange on a regional level. Greater co-operation between authorities and experts in the Nordic countries promotes the sharing of experiences, innovation and common research initiatives to the greater benefit of the entire Nordic Region. Collaboration between different Councils of Ministers and Nordic institutions also enables common initiatives across policy areas, with a good foothold in Nordic research and innovation activity. Established network and collaboration structures within FJLS can also be drawn on to aid efforts which build preparedness and capacity ahead of the challenges faced by this policy area. Nordic co-operation also offers good opportunities for the Nordic countries to speak with a single voice within international contexts where it is advantageous to highlight common Nordic perspectives on global issues.

Finally, one last dimension that presents both challenges and opportunities for the FJLS policy area is the advance of digitalisation, alongside continued developments within the field of artificial intelligence (AI). This is something that will be analysed more closely within the framework for Nordic co-operation, with an ambition to achieve more efficient food analysis and testing processes, greater levels of consumer information and better information sharing practices that can help boost our common preparedness for zoonoses and epizootic diseases in the Nordic bioeconomy chains, as well as the registration and mapping of the diverse interests that exist across fishing, aquaculture, forestry and agriculture. The challenges that could be posed by digitalisation can be jointly analysed by government authorities in the Nordic countries in order to create a basis for joint Nordic initiatives that improve our preparedness in relation to cyber security and other digital threats which are common to the entire policy area. Greater levels of digitalisation are also important for production optimisation within the green and blue sectors, allowing for lower degrees of resource loss, reduced use of pesticides and antibiotics, for example, and higher levels of skills development and enhanced knowledge.

It is becoming increasingly complex to manage and use natural resources sustainably, and there is therefore a need to expand our knowledge in this area, so that we can better adapt to climate change, limit impact on the climate and environment, secure competitive production for a growing Nordic population, and also promote welfare and biodiversity. The need for more joint initiatives within research, innovation and skills development is therefore considerable, and there is good potential here to generate Nordic added value. Sustainable food systems and value chains within the FJLS policy area require competitive production, access to renewable energy resources and the sustainable safeguarding of biodiversity. Simultaneously, it is also important that food safety be retained at the same high level as previously, with more solutions and innovations in place to promote sustainable and healthy consumption. Achieving sustainable and healthy consumption requires solutions and innovations that build suitable raw-material and processing chains for the future, allowing for greater resilience and competitiveness, while also curtailing the risks of negative climate and environmental impacts from these systems.

Sustainable food production is reliant on the continuation of good animal, fish and plant health in the Nordic Region, as these in turn allow for good animal welfare, a low degree of medication and pesticide use, and safer food. These areas must also be seen as interlinked with the areas of environment and health through what is known as a ’One-Health’ perspective.  Sustainable and healthy food consumption also requires food safety and the availability of nutritious food in accordance with the research findings that have been compiled within the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations, and it must be based on the foods for which we have good natural and cultural conditions to produce here in the Nordic Region. We also need to reduce food waste, improve the efficiency of our resource usage from farm and sea to table and build better food environments. The production of new green and marine proteins and side streams in the bioeconomy represents opportunities for increased local production of feed and food, but it also places new demands on good food safety and analytical capacity – an area for which Nordic co-operation already has an established structure and long experience of common initiatives. Sustainable and healthy food consumption will also require a greater focus on biological and genetic diversity, resources and genetic expertise. Through NordGen, the Nordic countries have a unique opportunity to support sustainable consumption and production through the development of healthy and more resilient crops that can withstand a changing climate, for example. NordGen also allows for the preservation and stimulation of the use of other, less commercially farmed livestock breeds with varying attributes which are sustainable in the long term and in demand because they can assure future access to suitable breeding stock.

The green transition requires us to reduce our use of fossil resources, and this in turn means a greater need for alternative and renewable energy resources such as bio-energy, wind power and solar power. Construction and civil-engineering solutions based on steel, aluminium and concrete require considerable use of fossil energy. This means that the Nordic bio-industries – forestry above all, but also waste from food production – must be incorporated into the energy supply chain in new ways, and that buildings and structures should use green, timber-based products to a greater extent than before. There is a good tradition of research collaboration and knowledge sharing between the Nordic countries within the area of forestry and wood processing.

The green transition should be viewed as an opportunity for the FJLS policy area to contribute towards economic value generation through the production of products and services from the FJLS sectors which promote the climate transition and also enhance biodiversity. Greater competitiveness and profitable production within the value chains of forestry, agriculture, fishing and aquaculture generate important economic preconditions for bolstering this transition. As New Nordic Food has demonstrated, Nordic efforts within food culture and gastronomy can also lead to greater interest in and knowledge of Nordic food culture while also boosting value generation and competitiveness in the Nordic countries.

Innovative solutions which put economic, social and environmental sustainability in focus should be sought in close collaboration with actors from the business community, public authorities, civil society and research to boost the competitiveness of the value chains in forestry, agriculture, fishing and aquaculture. Equipping FJLS value chains to meet future needs for products and services can contribute to the development of new value generation. At the same time, sustainability criteria also impose new compliance and reporting requirements on businesses. Access to relevant and high-quality statistics and data can represent one way to boost competitiveness within both national and international markets. 

Shortages of workers with the right qualifications and a dearth of new start-ups within the FJLS sectors pose a challenge to agricultural production, fisheries and aquaculture, as well as to other parts of the food chain. The dependence of these sectors on foreign labour may over time entail a risk of both vulnerability and knowledge loss. There is already an acute shortage of practising veterinarians in a majority of the Nordic countries, and this is expected to remain a challenge in both the medium and long term, posing difficulties to animal husbandry and welfare. The development of career opportunities, the improvement of status and income opportunities, the countering of any border obstacles and the promotion of the role played by young people in our food systems are all joint political priorities that will help boost competitiveness and social sustainability within the FJLS sectors in the Nordic Region.

The warfare and greater geopolitical uncertainty of the last few years, in addition to extreme weather and the anticipated consequences of climate change and changing conditions in our eco-systems, as well as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on society, all show how both external and internal events, and crises that sometimes occur concurrently, can affect the Nordic Region. It is considered that the continued development of the bioeconomy can reduce vulnerabilities and boost supply capacities through an enhanced Nordic capacity to produce bio-based goods as a part of our preparedness efforts.

In the wake of climate change, we are left with a need for greater and shared knowledge on how the bioeconomy is affected. Extreme weather, the loss of biodiversity and pollution all pose a continued threat to production resources both globally and in the Nordic Region, with consequences that are both costly and often unpredictable. The war in Ukraine, and the high energy and chemical fertiliser costs to which it has given rise, as well as the impact of COVID-19 on production conditions, societal structures and public health, further demonstrate the importance of bolstering preparedness in the region. Building social, economic and environmental resilience against on-going and future crises – i.e. future-proofing production resources and food supply to deal with what are often referred to as polycrises – will be a component of our preparedness work on a national level, and an area in which regional collaboration can contribute to our efforts. The weaknesses revealed by the pandemic at a time of adversity can also be drawn upon as valuable lessons in this work.

Nordic co-operation can bolster national preparedness processes through the exchange of experiences, networks, common initiatives and plans. As climate change, the loss of biodiversity and other crises also affect our neighbouring region, knowledge and preparedness matters relating to supply and climate change adaptation within the FJLS sectors need to be shared with our neighbours as well. Nordic co-operation on an international level in relation to global processes and initiatives can further help boost the region’s preparedness and resilience against on-going and future crises.

The political priorities for the work of the MR-FJLS aim to bolster the Nordic Region’s Vision 2030 and the three strategic priorities of a Green Nordic Region, a Competitive Nordic Region and a Socially Sustainable Nordic Region. Interdisciplinary perspectives on children and young people, equality and sustainable development will also be adopted actively within the work carried out to attain all goals and sub-goals. These will also be further developed in the work plans of the MR-FJLS for the 2025–2027 and 2028–2030 periods.

The Nordic Council of Ministers for Fisheries, Aquaculture, Agriculture, Food and Forestry has adopted decisions on goals and sub-goals for the work to be undertaken in the 2025–2030 period. The political priorities govern all activity within the policy area of Nordic co-operation. This means that initiatives are to be developed on the basis of these goals, and that their activities, outcomes and effects must bring about the desired change.