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Farmer with drone on a wheat field. Smart farming and precision agriculture.
Droner kan brukes i smart landbruk og presisjonslandbrukPhoto: Shutterstock

The Smart Farming research group primarily consists of individuals who were brought together through NMBU's sustainability arena Smart Farming and Green Innovation (2021-2024). Our projects and educational initiatives focus on integrating topics such as robotics, sensors, engineering, and plant and soil science, with the goal of better adapting new technologies to the natural environment.

In the past, nature often had to adapt to the technology used, which was typically large and heavy machinery. In future farming, we aim to adapt new technologies to the natural environment, thereby enhancing biodiversity and sustainability in Norwegian agriculture.

We work for a more sustainable and robust agriculture through innovative research and student education, bringing together cross-disciplinary areas at NMBU.

About the research group

  • Background and research areas

    The knowledge behind smart farming encompasses several interconnected sub-topics, including engineering, robotics, sensors, geomatics, imaging, AI, data science, as well as plant and soil science.

    Although we have long worked with these topics at NMBU, there was a lack of coordinated efforts to implement smart farming in Norwegian agriculture. These topics were not well-highlighted, and most key researchers were not familiar with each other's research fields and common opportunities.

    Therefore, in 2021, NMBU established and funded a sustainability arena called Smart Farming and Green Innovation for a period of four years. This program was specifically aimed at improving networking within the university in the field of smart farming. The program was led by the Faculty of Science and Technology (REALTEK), in collaboration with the Faculty of Biosciences (BIOVIT) and the Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management (MINA).

    During the course of these four years we aimed to:

    • Improve digitalization of agriculture at NMBU
    • Increase student innovation and education within smart farming at NMBU
    • Initiate improved and new topics for students with cross-disciplinary teachers
    • Increase the number of cross-disciplinary research projects within these topics
    • Stimulate to improved research infrastructure at the university due to smart farming research
    • Make our university more visible by showing our activities within smart farming
    • Attract new research partners nationally and internationally
    • Ensure a more resilient and sustainable Norwegian agriculture
  • Partners

    We cooperate with national and international partners, such as: Väderstad,
    Graminor, NIBIO, NLR, DAT, Kilter, Agdir, BIODRONE, AGROSENSE,
    GREENFARMER, Brødr. Freberg AS, PRIVA, Norwegian Agro, Felleskjøpet,
    Yara, Datavaxt, Accenture, Oracle, Agrisenze, Harper Adams University, Aarhus University and University of Helsinki.

  • Group members

Upcoming events

Fagdag august 2025 (date to be announced)

Workshop conference Advances and Innovations in Agricultural Engineering The 6th NJF – EurAgEng ‐ Agromek joint Seminar November 2026 (to be announced)

Selected publications and popularizations