A Big Day for PheNo: Official Debut at Field Day

The Smart Farming and Phenotyping Field Day 2025 was more than just an event — it was a vibrant meeting point for the agricultural community. Hosted in collaboration with NMBU – Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Graminor, and SKP-NMBU, the day brought together students, researchers, farmers, advisors and industry experts to share insights, foster innovation, and strengthen connections across sectors.

With a diverse program of talks, field demonstrations, and networking opportunities, the event highlighted the importance of collaboration in addressing today’s agricultural challenges. From cutting-edge research to real-world farming applications, Field Day created space for meaningful dialogue and lasting partnerships.

A heartfelt thank you to all the speakers, organizers, and participants who made this event such a success. Your contributions truly made Field Day one of the highlights of the year!

The program for the event included keynote sessions in the morning at Vitenparken, followed by field demonstrations in the afternoon at the NMBU Vollebekk station. This field day was organized in collaboration with RealTek at NMBU and SKP-NMBU, with active participation from many researchers and professors from the Department of Plant Sciences at NMBU.

We were also pleased to welcome Kristin Børresen, Managing Director of Graminor, as one of our speakers.

Keynote speakers presented the following topics:

• New opportunities for plant research in Norway with national infrastructure for plant phenotyping
  Morten Lillemo, NMBU
• SmartWheat in the field: How artificial intelligence can help wheat crops cope with climate stress
  Sahameh Shafiee, NMBU
• Speed breeding – new and better varieties faster!
  Kristin Børresen, Graminor
• Sustainable forage production through increased nitrogen efficiency in ryegrass
  Mallikarjuna Rao Kovi, NMBU
• Weed-free grasslands using drone technology
  Lars Olav Brandsæter and Kim Bredesen

Morning at Vitenparken

The afternoon portion of the event featured field demonstrations and on-site explanations of several ongoing research projects with field trial activities. A wide range of projects were represented, including RoboFarmer, DLT Farming, SFI Digifoods, RobOat, DiversityOats, and OatFrontiers.

SKP leader Jan Roger Torp Sørby welcomed the attendees with a brief introduction to SKP, setting the stage for a series of engaging presentations and hands-on sessions.

We also had the pleasure of hearing from Helge Randem, a local farmer, who shared insights on how precision agriculture can be implemented affordably, including the use of GPS technology on older tractors. In addition, the head wheat breeder from Graminor contributed to the discussion on advancements in breeding.

Presentations included:

• Brief introduction to SKP
  Jan Roger Torp Sørby
• Precision technology doesn’t have to “cost an arm and a leg”: Using GPS on older tractors
  Helge Randem, farmer
• Robots as research tools: RoboFarmer, DLT Farming, and SFI Digifoods
  Weria Khaksar and Antonio Candea Leite, NMBU
• Drone services from ‘Plantefenotyping NMBU’
  Muhammad Fahad Ijaz, NMBU
• Pre-harvest sprouting and falling number stability – Opportunities with new wheat varieties
  Jon Arne Dieseth, Graminor
• Drought and waterlogging tolerance in Nordic oat varieties: The RobOat project
  Morten Lillemo and Anja Ruud, NMBU
• How far are we from high-protein oats for food? The DiversityOats and OatFrontiers projects
  Morten Lillemo and Kai Ilves, NMBU

Afternoon at Vollebekk

We were thrilled to see such strong attendance at the event. It was a fantastic day for sharing knowledge, showcasing ongoing projects at NMBU, and discussing the latest developments in agricultural research.

Thank you to everyone who participated — we hope to see you again next year!