NIBIO grows Norway’s first avocado

The largest avocado producers today are Mexico, South Africa, Peru, and Chile. These countries have favourable climates and soil conditions that make large-scale avocado cultivation possible.

Norwegians eat an average of 2.6 kilos of avocado each year. Until now, all of them have been imported, partly because Norway’s cold climate makes avocado cultivation difficult. But a young researcher from NIBIO Særheim has taken an important step toward changing that. She has, as far as we know, grown Norway’s first avocado.

A flavourful surprise

Carolina Falcato Fialho Palma has a passion for exotic fruit. In her work as a researcher at NIBIO, she has had the opportunity to experiment with greenhouse cultivation.

“We tried growing avocado trees as a pilot project to gain insight into how avocados might be cultivated in Norwegian greenhouses. First, we had to manage trees that can grow up to six meters tall inside a greenhouse only three meters high. Then we had to get the trees to bloom, the flowers to be pollinated, and to set fruit. We didn’t expect to be able to harvest anything.”

The joy was therefore great when Palma was able to pick the first two Norwegian avocados. After harvesting, the fruits had to rest for a week to finish ripening. Then came the moment of truth—it was time to cut the avocado in half. What did they look like inside? And did they taste good?

“The avocados were of very high quality!” Palma says enthusiastically.

“There were 26 employees who shared the two avocados among us, and they scored high on both taste and texture.”

Innovative greenhouse technology and waste heat

Now Palma is looking ahead. She wants to find out how avocado production can succeed in Norway.

“In principle, we can grow almost anything in Norwegian greenhouses. The challenge is making production economically viable.”

She is therefore taking the project further into the most modern greenhouses at NIBIO Særheim in Jæren, where she can control all factors that affect production.

“We’re going to study how much energy is needed for heating, how much light the plants require, and how much manual labour is involved. These are important factors for assessing whether production can become profitable.”

A key input for avocado production is heat. At Særheim, hot water is circulated through pipes to heat the greenhouses. The water is heated with electricity, but Palma is turning her attention toward other heating methods.

“In Norway, we have a lot of industry and data centres that generate waste heat. We want to investigate how we can use this heat to grow heat-loving plants and extend the growing season.”

Palma is optimistic about the future of Norwegian fruit and vegetable production and has already begun cultivating passion fruit in greenhouses.

“After managing to grow avocado, I think passion fruit will be much easier,” she says with a smile.