"Locally produced food for the Armed Forces is the new strategy for total defence”

Anita Øren and her colleagues have conducted research on Ørland Air Station on the west coast of Norway, and food production in the traditional district of Fosen.

“Even now, with so much focus on total defence, the civilian part of preparedness is easily forgotten,” says the researcher.

Arrangement would support farmers and increase preparedness

The air station has signed a letter of intent with the Trøndelag Farmers’ Union and several other actors, stating that the station would like to use more locally produced food.

The aim is to support local farmers by improving local food security and resiliency.

Food self-sufficiency also makes it easier for the Armed Forces to defend the country in the case of an emergency.

“Many of the regulations cannot be changed, but the military departments can influence whom they have agreements with. Farmers also have contractual obligations in the value chain, and these can prevent alternative local agreements,” says Øren.

“Farmers would like to pivot so that they can deliver more food locally, but that means increased costs for them. Who will bear these costs?” she asks.

Producers are reluctant to invest

Øren points out that many farmers are leaving the industry.

“That’s not a good situation in terms of preparedness,” she says.

She describes the research as a preliminary project that only begins to explore these challenges.

“We have to look at the local and regional food system and food production. This is the new strategy for total defence,” she says.

In her interviews with Ørland Air Base, the municipality, and the producers, Øren has heard strong support for the proposed agreement to increase local food preparedness. At the same time, the agreement is perceived as not being a strong enough commitment.

As a result, producers are unwilling to invest.

The farmers want to have a guarantee of minimum purchases, long-term agreements, and the same prices they receive when selling their products to Nortura or Tine, two major Norwegian agricultural cooperatives.

The air base is too small on its own

The biggest practical problem is logistics. Ørland lacks the capacity to receive and store meat and vegetables. There also needs to be better transport options from the warehouse and the final short distance to the air station.

At the same time, Ørland Air Station alone is too small to implement a system for using local agricultural products. For example, the air base uses three tonnes of carrots a year. A single producer grows and delivers 600 tonnes.

To ensure viability, the air base needs to join forces with municipal kitchens, schools, and health institutions in order to be able to buy enough from the farmers to justify the investments they would have to make.

Or maybe, says Øren, what is needed is a local raw material processing facility.

Producing food for the country's entire population during peacetime would create an infrastructure that could be used to produce food for the region in the event of a potential crisis – and provide better food resiliency, she concludes.

Crooked carrots are welcome

There is a lot of waste in vegetable production.

Carrots that are not attractive enough and potatoes that are slightly blemished cannot be sold in stores. But they can be used in military kitchens. If they are going to be used raw, or to make stew or mashed potatoes, they don’t have to be pretty.

The researchers' findings also show that storage, washing, and production options, in addition to the framework agreements and regulations, currently make it difficult to facilitate food deliveries.

The military is required to follow national framework agreements, which do not allow them to purchase directly from local farmers.

Everyone wants it, but it still isn't happening

The report's conclusion can be summed up as follows: everyone wants this to happen, but so far they have not been able to make it work.

Producers, municipalities, and defence employees agree that local food strengthens preparedness and the local community. They also agree that the military should eat traditional Norwegian home-style food made from ingredients with known origins – and that food preparedness must be seen in the context of a total defence concept.

Many actors would like to be part of pilot projects to ensure the local food supply.

Producers can readily supply potatoes and carrots or try out slaughtering and processing. But they need to know how much they can plan on delivering, and they need to be paid for the additional work.

“Preparedness costs money. Maybe this study can help us recognise that we have to spend some money on preparedness,” says Øren.

Reference:

Øren et al. Fra jord til soldatens bord: Lokal matberedskap i et totalforsvarsperspektiv (From the soil to the soldier’s table: Local food preparedness from a total defence perspective), SINTEF Report, 2026.

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Read the Norwegian version of this article on forskning.no

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