Evaluation of the Initiative Sustainable Food Production and Value Creation in the North

The scheme is administered by Troms County Council and financed through funds from the Agricultural Agreement, first allocated in 2022, along with county funds from Finnmark, Troms, and Nordland. The aim of the initiative is “to strengthen vulnerable producer communities in Finnmark, Troms, and Nordland, counteract farm closures, increase land use, and enhance the competence…

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Look to Switzerland

The main aim of this project is to propose concrete measures based on existing measures in Switzerland. We will first identify relevant climate and environmental measures in Switzerland with an assumed high transfer value to Norway. Next, we will seek to quantify the economic and environmental consequences of introducing these in Norwegian agriculture. This will…

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Evaluation of investment support in Norwegian agriculture

The funds are managed by Innovation Norway, with a distribution by county. About 90 percent of the grant funds are given to investments in traditional agriculture. The framework for the scheme has increased significantly in recent years and amounts to NOK 1,312.5 million for 2026.  In the agricultural settlement 2025, the contracting parties agreed to…

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AnimalAlert

Bane NOR has been involved in the project since 2020 and has funded the earlier research together with the Norwegian Railway Directorate. This year, the research is funded by Bane NOR and Norske Tog, and the main activity involves installing a speaker system on selected trains and collecting data. The project’s impact goal is to…

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Evaluation of the Common Agricultural Policy in Germany

The client is the German Ministry for Agriculture, Food and Regional Identity (“Heimat”). The project will evaluate the period 2014-2022 and the specific strategy for the implementation of the CAP in Germany. The specific task of Ruralis is to conduct a counterfactual analysis with the European agricultural model CAPRI to assess whether the agricultural policy…

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Rural Population’s Housing Preferences

Nesset vekst AS has commissioned Ruralis to conduct a digital survey at the rural level in the former Nesset municipality. The survey examines the needs and preferences of various resident groups regarding different types of housing and is conducted among both permanent residents and holiday home owners. 

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SolarFood: Developing inclusive business model (BM) concepts for solar food drying in the Himalaya region

SolarFood aims to develop business models to promote the introduction of improved solar food drying technologies in Bhutan and Nepal, both defined as LLMICs. The business models will be developed and tested with local stakeholders, particularly women-led agricultural cooperatives. In lowering post-harvest losses, SolarFood will contribute to addressing the issues of both food access /…

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Agricultural support

In the project, we will investigate the following questions:  What proportion of agricultural subsidies goes to meat production, both directly and indirectly, and, if possible, including the value of import protection (i.e., shielding support)?  What is, if possible, the county distribution of agricultural subsidies in general and meat subsidies in particular?  What is the actual…

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Development of methods to calculate GHG emissions in agriculture

The purpose of the assignment is to assist the Norwegian Environment Agency and the Norwegian Directorate of Agriculture in assessing the possibility of developing and adopting methods that can estimate the impact on greenhouse gas emissions of overall changes in agricultural settlements, including the possibilities of adopting machine learning. 

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Grazing subsidies

It will gather knowledge about the direct relationship between changes in subsidies on the one hand, and the number of animals grazing as well as the proportion of animals grazing on the other. The project will also evaluate the effects on other agricultural activities. This relationship will be used to estimate the impact of changes…

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Developing social science methods for evaluating sustainability in Norwegian feed system for Norwegian livestock and aquaculture (SocialFeed)

This shortcoming may neglect the importance of the social part of sustainability for feed production whether Norwegian or imported. To explore this, three main cases i.e. cattle, chicken and salmon and their current feed ingredients along with the most promising novel feed ingredients of the future will be included. Methods like Social Life Cycle Assessment,…

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Sustainable Eaters – Consumers in a sustainable Norwegian food system

Slow progress on the Sustainable Development Goals, along with ambitious Paris Agreement targets, requires a rethinking of food systems. The food system is responsible for high emissions and impacts public health, trade, industry, and the environment in various ways. Sustainable Eaters supports a more sustainable food system by focusing on the consumer. The project aims…

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LANDWELL: Climate-induced welfare impacts of ecosystem goods and services from agricultural and seminatural landscapes in Norway

These landscapes and resources are also important for other sectors such as tourism, recreation and food industries and contribute to good living conditions and quality of life, especially in rural areas. Little is still known about both how climate change will affect the agricultural sector’s ability to provide EG&S from cultural and seminatural landscapes, and…

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