Mære Agricultural School
Our farm
Get an insight into our facilities and how we work to achieve the goal of a zero-emission farm.
We pave the way for new solutions within climate and energy in agriculture
On our farm, we facilitate trials, testing and demonstrations of climate solutions. This takes place both in the barn, the greenhouse and out in the fields.
When we build houses or make investments in barns and outdoors, we facilitate the initiative to demonstrate new solutions within climate and energy. Students, farmers and agriculture in general can take part in the activities we do within climate and energy. The construction of demonstration facilities is done in close cooperation with Trøndelag County Council.
We collaborate closely with Skjetlein High School, and together we have dairy production, pig production, suckler cows, sheep, poultry and beef cattle. We have grass, grain and potato production on the farms and have both conventional and organic acreage.
Acres of cultivated area
Tons of tomatoes per year
Production animals
kWh produced with solar cells
Facilities and amenities
Agriculture on the zero-emission farm Mære
Mære Agricultural School has a cultivated area of 1050 acres and 300 acres of leased pasture land. The forest area is 550 acres.
Area distribution
The farm mainly grows roughage; meadow mixtures for silage, green fodder crops, rye and ryegrass for annual grazing in addition to cultivated pastures. Barley and wheat are also grown on about 200 acres and potatoes on 25 acres. 100 acres of the area is grown organically with barley and meadow in the crop rotation.
The soil consists mostly of light clay, with varying amounts of silt and sand. There is little bog soil left on Mæresmyra. The bog has been transformed and "used up" after being cultivated for over 100 years. The subsoil that remains is clay and silt. There is some moraine soil on the mound where the school buildings are located.
Growth shift
A versatile farming system that we have at Mære, with a rotation between different crops on the different soil shifts, provides good conditions for developing good soil. The soil is allowed to lie dormant longer when grass crops are grown, and more organic material is built up in the soil. Organic material is necessary to increase the content of living organisms in the soil, from the small bacteria up to earthworms. The turnover of nutrients is faster, a good soil structure is built up, and the soil is more drought-tolerant during dry periods, and can absorb more water during rainy periods.
Good utilization of fertilizer
Good utilization of manure and well-planned fertilization practices result in better utilization of the fertilizer and thus less need to purchase mineral fertilizer. During the production of mineral fertilizer, greenhouse gases are also emitted, so good utilization of own fertilizer resources is a good climate measure. At Mære, a manure spreader is used that places the fertilizer in stripes on the ground. This results in better utilization of the nitrogen in the fertilizer, and less loss of methane to the environment.
Precision agriculture
The use of precision technology in agriculture is another measure to make better use of resources. At Mære, we have a tractor fitted with a nitrogen sensor. It scans the plant cover in front of the tractor and sends a message to a smart fertilizer spreader behind how to dose the fertilizer. The school also has a section-controlled fertilizer spreader and a section-controlled sprayer that ensure the most precise use of fertilizer and pesticides.
Pig houses and pig production
The pig house at Mære was built in 2008 and is an important teaching space for our students, but also an attractive arena for experimental activities. In the pig house we run a combined production with 60 yearling sows and 1260 slaughter pigs and 700 piglets are delivered per year. Our students receive instruction in production, but also get to participate in practical experiments with collecting experimental data and weighing pigs, etc.
Production results 2021
The barn building
Equipment in the barn
Current experiments in the pig barn
- 34 weaned piglets per yearling sow (Top 10 in Norway)
- 1080 g gain per day for slaughter pigs
- 2.5 FEn per kg of growth in slaughter pigs
- 550g gain per day during the piglet period
- 1.7 FEn per kg of growth in the piglet period
- The barn is built of concrete elements and has a wooden roof structure.
- The building is 25 * 66 m, a total of 1650 m2 including social rooms (office, shower, toilet, etc.)
- 2 piglet birthing departments with 20 farrowing pens and 2 nursing pens in each department.
- 2 finishing pig departments with 18 pens of 12m2
- Pregnancy department with 28 insemination stalls, 4 recruitment stalls and 6 buffer stalls as well as a farrowing stall.
- Negative pressure ventilation from Skov
- Daltec dry feeding system with portion feeding for suckling sows and weaned piglets
- Big Dutchman wet feeding system for finishing pigs and pregnant sows
- Growth recording with camera for slaughter pigs
- Logging of climate in the slaughterhouses
- Sprinkler spraying on fertilizer areas in all departments.
- Felleskjøpet Feed Development tests concentrate feed before launching on the market
- The Longevity Project – NORSVIN breeds for better maternal qualities and durability in the TN70 sow
- Pig Promise – Mære performs practical experiments on animal welfare
- Camera weighing
- Gas measurement
In the pig barn, researchers have access to camera weighing, gas measurement, InGris data, weight registrations, and we perform manual tasks related to experiments.
Dairy barn and milk production
The dairy barn at Mære was built in 2016 and currently has space for 55 yearling cows with calves and heifers. The milk quota is 400 tons and the yield in the barn is between 8500 and 9500 kg EKM (energy-corrected milk) per yearling cow. The animal welfare indicator shows a high score and students and staff make a good effort every day to ensure that our animals are well-off.
Climate action
Technical equipment in the barn
Facilitation for experiments
Current experiments in the dairy barn
The barn is built of wood, which binds CO2 compared to concrete buildings. The walls are made of solid wood, and no additional insulation has been added beyond the wood's own insulating capacity. There is natural ventilation in the building.
Heat is recovered by cooling the milk in the milk tank. A heat exchanger is installed on the tank, and the heat is used to heat water in the hot water tank, or given as tempered drinking water to the animals.
A heat pump (air to air) has been installed to provide heat for heating common rooms.
- TKS feeding system (photo)
- Milking robot from DeLaval
- Robot scraping manure
- Heat recovery on the milk tank
- Camera
- Feeding troughs at 26 feeding places
- Methane gas measurement (Greenfeeder)
- Production data
Geno breeds a greener cow using individual measurements of methane emissions and feed efficiency on dairy cows in the barn (Greenfeed and feed troughs with weight recording)
NIBIO conducts experiments with methane measurements when cows graze
Felleskjøpet Førutvikling regularly tests new concentrate types
Nord University is conducting behavioral studies with video and Real Time Location System (RTLS) and running feeding trials with various additives (macroalgae, biochar)
The greenhouse was built and put into operation in 2007. It has a total floor area of 3,000 m². Half of the area is used for plant production. The rest of the area consists of a construction hall, intended for the landscape gardeners, as well as common rooms such as changing rooms, sanitary facilities and classrooms. and a separate processing room.
Here, tomatoes are grown on 1/3 of the area. There are an average of 1.5 sets of new plants each year, and the plants that are set out are raised in the greenhouse. The tomato crop is now 70 tons per year. The rest of the area used for plant cultivation is used for Christmas and summer flowers.
Energy consumption
There is an annual consumption of electricity of 1.1 GWh (1.1 million kWh). Tomato production in particular is dependent on a lot of light all year round. Furthermore, about 800,000 kWh of heat energy is used per year to keep production in the greenhouse running. Most of this energy comes from the heat storage installed in the greenhouse.
How does the heat storage work?
An advanced system has been built in the greenhouse to store heat energy created by solar heat and light in the greenhouse. Aerotherms have been installed on the roof of the greenhouse, which, through cooling and dehumidifying the air, make it possible to store excess energy. The energy is stored underground in a large water tank (short-term storage). When the water in this storage has reached a certain temperature, the heat is conducted further down into deep boreholes outside the greenhouse (long-term storage). There are a total of 44 boreholes in which the heat energy can be stored. The heat is extracted during the cold season, and the effect is increased by using heat pumps. The heat storage provides a net delivery of just over 900,000 kWh of heat energy annually. The use of propane for heating has decreased significantly since the heat storage was put into use. The heat from the heat storage is used to heat the greenhouse, as well as classrooms, offices and other common rooms at the school. Heat pipes have been laid in the ground to transport the heat around the school grounds.
The heat storage system was developed by researchers at Gether AS in collaboration with Trøndelag County Council, SINTEF, Kværner and the school.
Mære R&D arena
We believe in the meeting between researchers, farmers, business, employees and students. At Mære we meet around common challenges within climate and energy and here innovations are created. Our task is to be a good arena for R&D, where we can contribute with buildings, land, livestock and skilled employees as well as a large network within the agricultural industry.