Northfood, one of Umeå University’s three prioritised research areas (https://www.umu.se/en/research/prioritised-research-areas/northfood-plant-science-for-change/), is organising an interdisciplinary workshop about apples. The workshop will discuss apples both from a biological and economical perspective, for example:
- Apple breeding/varieties
- Apple processing – Must, cider, preserves…
- Business around apples
There will be speakers both from academia and companies dealing with apples in various ways. The aim is to discuss priorities for future academic research, but equally important is to increase interactions between academia and the rest of society, which may not only lead to better research but also to better business opportunities.
As a side note, a big group of students at the course “Affärsutveckling och innovation” at Handelshögskolan in Umeå (HHU) will attend parts of the workshop day 1 and then in, smaller groups, discuss apple business opportunities and present their results in a poster exhibition on day 2.
On Monday evening, Gotthards restaurant will serve an “apple-dinner”, and apples will also be the theme for other meals during the workshop
at latest 2026-01-22.
Attendance is free, but the number of participants is limited
Program
Monday Feb 2
Part 1 Rotundan – Umeå university (with HHU-students)
9.30 Registration and coffee
10.00 Welcome and background (Stefan Jansson, UmU)
10.30 Background 2 (Sofia Lundberg, UmU)
11.00 Sustainable business models around food (Magdalena Markowska, UmU)
11.30 Business and horticulture (Annie Drottberger, SLU)
12.00 Lunch
13.00 Challenges and opportunities (Johan Sjöstedt, Pomologik)
13.30 How I have built a small but noteworthy company (Kristina Rehn, Tegsnäsets musteri)
14.00 Panel discussion
14.30 Coffee and transportation
Part 2 P5 (without HHU-students)
15.30 Commercial cultivation in the north. Variety presentation (Leif Blomqvist, Blomqvists plantskola)
16.00 Practical apple breeding – live and let die (Kimmo Rumpunen, SLU)
16.30 Genetic diversity and resistance to Fruit Tree Canker in apple (Larisa Gustavsson, SLU)
17.00 Climate adaptation of apple – the case for northern Sweden (Jonas Skytte Af Sätra, SLU)
17.30 Summing up the day
18.30 Apple dinner (Gotthards krog)
Tuesday Feb 3
Part 1 P5 (without HHU-students)
9.00 Introduction to group discussions
9.15 Group discussions What research and development is needed?
10.00 Coffee
10.30 Group discussion reporting
11.00 Final discussion – Where do we go from here?
12.00 Lunch and transportation
Part 2 Umeå university (with HHU-students)
13.30 Poster viewing and discussion with students
15.00 End of the day
