Norway’s first fully automated facility for vegetable production was put into operation last fall. This spring, the first products hit store shelves.

“In this facility, no one touches the lettuce from the time it is sown, grown and packaged, until it ends up on the store shelf and is finally opened by the customer at home in their kitchen,” says SINTEF researcher Ottar Bakås.

Bakås and his research colleagues have studied the status and opportunities for automated, indoor vegetable production in Norway.

The facility is operated by Himmelgrønt AS, a collaborative partnership between the supermarket chain Coop Norge and the technology company Avisomo, and is located in Gardermoen, near Oslo airport. Their location enables them to distribute the goods quickly and efficiently to all the chain’s stores around the country.

SINTEF has analysed the potential for further automation in Norway.

“It is still common for a lot of tasks to be done by people, but now technology has evolved to the point where we can actually modify the manual tasks,” says Aleksander Lillienskiold, a former SINTEF researcher who also participated in the project.

“We’ve looked at the degree of automation that exists today and what we can expect in the future, as well as what technology we’ll need going forward,” says Lillienskiold.

The project has focused on ‘vertical farming’ – a designation for indoor farming in a controlled environment where crops are grown in stacked layers.

Aleksander Lillienskiold, Ottar Bakås and Sven-Vegard Buer (not in photo) have mapped and assessed new solutions for automating greenhouses in Norway. Photo: Håvard Egge

“Growing indoors makes it possible to produce crops year-round. This means we don’t need to import from abroad. And there are no pesticides or insects, so when the lettuce is ready for harvest, it can just be cut and bagged right away,” says Lillienskiold.

In Avisomo’s facility, robots and automation carry out all the tasks. Light, air and water are automatically adjusted to create the best possible growing conditions.

The vegetables are grown in a multi-level shelf system. One seed is placed in a unit, and the roots grow downward, where they have good access to nutrition via flowing water. The plant grows on top. Within just over two weeks, the fastest growing lettuces are ready for harvest.

“Vertical cultivation is most often done without soil. And in a fully automated process, like at Avisomo’s facility, the lettuce is also not in contact with human hands. This removes many sources of disease risk that could diminish the product quality,” says Ottar Bakås, a SINTEF researcher.

• Mapping: The researchers created a broad overview of which automation solutions exist for greenhouses and indoor vegetable production – both internationally and in Norway. Automation tools include robots, sensors, cameras, control systems, energy solutions and digital tools.
• Visit and analysis: The researchers also visited greenhouses and vertical plants in Norway and spoke to producers. The goal was to see how automation works in practice – and where it ends.
• Considered automation solutions for Norwegian vegetable production: The team also investigated what the technology could be used for – including sowing seeds, moving plants, monitoring, harvesting, packaging and energy management. They also considered which solutions would be realistic under Norwegian conditions, where facilities are often smaller, energy costs are high and production is more varied than in large foreign greenhouses.

This growing model increases the shelf life of lettuce and herbs from 2-4 weeks to 12 weeks. In other words, the crops’ lifespan is tripled.

“This is an important factor for stores. It allows them to offer customers vegetables with a much better shelf life. And much less has to be thrown away,” says Bakås.

A longer shelf life on store shelves also makes it possible to offer more salad products.

“Research shows that the more you offer of a product line, the more customers buy. This can have a positive health effect on the population,” says Lillienskiold.

Another advantage of automation is that if robots do the harvesting, you don’t need a huge workforce.

“This will solve staffing challenges. Norway has a shortage of this type of labour,“ Lillienskiold says.

“Jobs will also have fewer heavy and dangerous tasks, which is good from an HSE perspective. In addition, the tasks will be more varied, which will hopefully make working with vegetable production a more attractive option.

The lettuce grows with controlled light, temperature and water supply. Being untouched by human hands gives crops an extra-long shelf life. Photo: Coop Norway/Avisomo

This type of vertical farming is also suitable for other vegetables, such as berries, tomatoes and cucumbers. The researchers believe that more growers will now gravitate toward the technology.

“In the future, we hope to work on understanding how automation can contribute to this growing model being rolled out to a greater extent in Norway,” says Bakås.

The researchers have investigated how both Norwegian and international vegetable farming use automation for tasks that were previously done manually. They are looking at what would be applicable for various Norwegian players in the future.

The researchers have visited four other Norwegian players in addition to Avisomo that grow vegetables. These businesses are not fully automated, but include a mix of automation and manual work.

“The degree of automation that is suitable will vary. It is also a question of investment. Therefore, we believe it will be important to develop solutions where the same equipment can be used for multiple production steps,” says Bakås.

The SINTEF researcher believes that a key factor for this growing model to be successful and economically sustainable is being able to scale up the production volume.

“Ideally, we’d like to see more production facilities around the country,” says Bakås, and notes that several Norwegian players have ambitious plans to grow and build more growing facilities.

Man and machine: SINTEF has mapped out how technology such as robots, machine vision and digital control systems can be used in Norwegian vegetable production. Illustration: Ottar Bakås /AI-generated, Microsoft Co-pilot

A recent FFI Norwegian Defence Research Establishment report points to the food supply as one of Norway’s greatest vulnerabilities in crisis or war.

“Local and automated vegetable production is therefore also important for preparedness and total defence,” says Bakås.

The researchers believe that Norwegian players ought to commit to a degree of automation.

“We are at a crossroads that will probably raise a crucial decision for many businesses. We hope that our research can serve as a roadmap that will help stakeholders see what kinds of solutions exist and would be suitable for each individual case,” says Lillienskiold.

SINTEF has also worked on a similar project called AutoMeat.

“In both projects, we are looking at whether we can transfer knowledge about automation from the fishing industry, which has been faster to adopt this type of technology,” says Lillienskiold.

The AutoGrow project is led by SINTEF, with data collection in collaboration with the vegetable industry (Farm Society, Viken Østre, Onna, Avisomo, Coop, Mære agricultural school) and the AgriTech Nordic Network. The project period is 2025–2026, and the funding comes from the Research Fund for Agriculture and Food Industry (FFL/JA – 279591) with SINTEF’s own contribution.

• The challenge is not a lack of technology, but its cost: A lot of advanced technology is available, but much of it is too expensive, too complex or too inflexible for Norwegian producers.
• Fully robotic greenhouses are not realistic for everyone: Robots that harvest and handle plants completely still function poorly when biological variation is too great. Plants are not like screws and bolts.
• The greatest gain lies in partial and smart automation: It is often more profitable to automate parts of production – such as internal logistics, packaging, washing, monitoring or energy management – ​​than to invest everything in robots that replace people.
• Digitalization should come before robotization: Many producers lack good computer systems. The use of robots is difficult to succeed with without an overview of production, energy and flow.
• Energy is a key factor: Automation and management of energy use are at least as important as robots. Energy solutions often determine whether a facility can be profitable.
• Automation also needs to fit the work environment: Machines can take over heavy and repetitive tasks, but people are still important – especially where discretion, flexibility and experience are needed.

You can read the report in its entirety here, in Norwegian: AutoGrow – Automatisering i veksthus for bærekraftig norsk grøntproduksjon (Automation in greenhouses for sustainable Norwegian vegetable production).