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From seed to packaging: A robot can now grow food all year round

Lettuce is sown, grown, and packaged entirely untouched by human hands. Researchers believe this could help improve food security and reduce imports.

Stacked racks of leafy greens under pink LED lights inside Avisomo’s vertical farm near Oslo.

Here we see lettuce being grown on multiple levels at Avisomo's fully automated facility.

(Photo: Coop Norge / Avisomo)

Håvard Egge Håvard Egge Freelance JOURNALIST

Presented by: Presented by: SINTEF

Published 26 September 2026 - 00:01

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

“At 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 current state of automated indoor vegetable production in Norway and its future potential.

The facility is operated by Himmelgrønt AS, a collaborative partnership between the supermarket chain Coop Norge and the technology company Avisomo, and is located near Oslo Airport. Its location allows the company to distribute its products quickly and efficiently to all of Coop's stores around the country.

The researchers have now analysed the potential for further automation in Norway.

“It's 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.

Aleksander Lillienskiold and Ottar Bakås pose indoors in front of a pale wall and sofa. — Aleksander Lillienskiold and Ottar Bakås have mapped and evaluated new automation solutions for greenhouses in Norway, together with their colleague Sven-Vegard Buer (not pictured).

Can grow all year round

“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: indoor farming in a controlled environment where crops are grown in stacked layers.

“Growing indoors makes it possible to produce crops all 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.

At 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 shelving system. A single seed is placed in a unit, and the roots grow downwards, where they have good access to nutrition through flowing water. The plant grows on top. The fastest-growing lettuce varieties are ready in just over two weeks.

“Vertical farming 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 Bakås.

This is how the researchers worked:

Mapping: The researchers created a broad overview of which automation solutions exist for greenhouses and indoor vegetable production, both internationally and in Norway. These include robots, sensors, cameras, control systems, energy solutions, and digital tools.
Visits 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.

Drastically reduces food waste

This growing model increases the shelf life of lettuce and herbs from two to four weeks to twelve weeks. In other words, it triples their shelf life.

“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 a wider range of lettuce products.

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

Could solve staffing problems

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.

He velieves that there will be fewer physically demanding and dangerous tasks. This is positive for health, safety, and the working environment. Jobs will also become more varied, which could make working in vegetable production a more attractive option.

This type of vertical farming is also suitable for other produce, such as berries, tomatoes, and cucumbers. The researchers now believe that more producers will adopt 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.

Rows of lettuce growing on tiered shelves beneath lights in an indoor farm. — The lettuce grows under controlled lighting, temperature, and water supply conditions, entirely untouched by human hands. This gives crops a longer shelf life.

Which solution is best suited to each location?

The researchers have investigated how both Norwegian and international vegetable farming use automation for tasks that were previously done manually. They are also looking at which solutions may be relevant for different Norwegian producers in the future.

The researchers have also visited four other Norwegian vegetable producers. These facilities are not fully automated but use a combination of automation and manual labour.

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

The researcher believes that production must take place on a larger scale, across multiple production facilities around the country, for this to become profitable.

He is aware that several Norwegian companies have ambitious plans to expand and build more growing facilities.

A r ecent report from the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment points to the food supply as one of Norway’s greatest vulnerabilities during crises and war.

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

Illustration of a worker using a tablet beside a robotic arm and shelves of leafy crops. — Researchers have mapped how technologies such as robots, machine vision, and digital control systems can be used in Norwegian vegetable production.

Automation is at a crossroads

Regardless, the researchers believe that Norwegian producers will have to prepare to adopt automation to a greater or lesser extent.

“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.

Researchers at SINTEF have also worked on a similar project, AutoMeat, focusing on meat production.

“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.

Reference:

Lillienskiold et al. AutoGrow – Automatisering i veksthus for bærekraftig norsk grøntproduksjon (Automation in greenhouses for sustainable Norwegian vegetable production), Research report from SINTEF, 2026.

These are the researchers' most important conclusions:

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.
Digitalisation should come before robotisation: 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.

About the research project: 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.