Norwegian grain import doubled in 15 years

Grain harvestGrain harvest.Photo: Audun Braastad / NTB scanpix
The import of grain and grain products to Norway has been doubled since 2000. Meanwhile,  agricultural land used for grain cultivation hasbeen reduced by 15 percent.
– When a country is reducing the size of the areas used for forming  and its own farmlands where we are to produce plants and grains, it is dangerous for the country. It is dangerous that we make ourselves dependent on imports,  manager Ann Merete Furuberg in the Farmers union says to the local newspaper Dagsavisen.
The figures are based on a report made by The Future in Our Hands (FIOH), which stipulates that imports of foreign grain are expected to increase to double in coming years. Increased imports of animal feed for animals and fish are highlighted as one of the causes.
– In the long term, we need to speed up the research work that has been initiated to find out how we can use wood or growths in the ocean to produce proteins we can feed the animals with. In the short term, there will be measures that may be used in the upcoming agricultural settlement  that will enable us to increase the use of the Norwegian soil. The grain price needs to be increased,  Furuberg says.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today