AGRICULTURE IN ICELAND A GRASSLAND BASED PRODUCTION ÁSLAUG HELGADÓTTIR, EMMA EYTHÓRSDÓTTIR AND TORFI JÓHANNESSON

Transcription

1 AGRICULTURE IN ICELAND A GRASSLAND BASED PRODUCTION ÁSLAUG HELGADÓTTIR, EMMA EYTHÓRSDÓTTIR AND TORFI JÓHANNESSON

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3 POPULATION DENSITY TOTAL SIZE: 103,000 km 2 POPULATION: 320,000

4 ...IN A EUROPEAN CONTEXT Inhabitants km Inhabitants/km /6 of Finland 0 MT NL BE UK DE IT LU CZ DK PL PT SK HU FR SI AT RO ES EL CY BG IE LT LV EE SE FI IS

5 VULNAERABLE AND NON-COMPETITIVE AGRICULTURE WIDE RANGE OF PRODUCE IN SMALL QUANTITIES HIGH TRANSPORT COSTS SUPPORT SERVICES SCATTERED IN SMALL UNITS AROUND THE COUNTRY FEW RETAIL COMPANIES DOMINATE THE RETAIL MARKET

6 LOCAL FOOD PRODUCTION % REQUIRED MILK ML 100 MEAT KT 100 POTATOES KT 50 VEGETABLES KT 30 WHEAT T 0,1

7 WE SUPPLY HALF OF THE ENERGY NEEDED

8 2500 FARMERS MIXED FARMING SHEEP 663 SHEEP/HORSES 635 HORSES 301 ALL THREE 227 SHEEP/CATTLE 251 CATTLE 169 CATTLE/HORSES 125

9 ha MEAN FARM SIZE (ha) 700 Arable land Other UAA MT CY RO SI IT HU PL BG PT LT AT LV NO ES NL BE FI SE EE FR DE LU DK UK CZ IS

10 HOW BIG IS ICELANDIC AGRICULTURE? Ireland Lithuania Denmark Netherlands Luxembourg Iceland Estonia Latvia Poland Romania Austria France Slovenia Finland Germany Belgium Croatia Bulgaria Sweden Czech Republic Slovakia United Kingdom Italy Cyprus Portugal Hungary Spain Malta Greece Dairy cows/1000 inhabitants Iceland Greece Ireland Spain Romania United Kingdom Cyprus Portugal Bulgaria Croatia Italy Hungary France Netherlands Slovenia Slovakia Sweden Estonia Austria Malta Latvia Germany Finland Czech Republic Luxembourg Denmark Lithuania Poland Sheep/1000 inhabitants

11 THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT

12 MILD MARITIME CLIMATE

13 10 C ISOTHERM JULY ARCTIC CIRCLE ICELAND

14 JULY TEMPERATURE Daily min and max in July - C Reykjavík Tromsø Edinburg Helsinki Brussels Vienna

15 ACCUMULATED DAY DEGREES (TSUM <5 C)

16 AP Photo/Brynjar Gauti NORTH ATLANTIC RIDGE (BDS) ACTIVE VOLCANISM

17 NERC Satellite Receiving Station, Dundee University, Scotland)

18 AP Photo/Brynjar Gauti

19 UNIQUE SOILS - ANDOSOLS DESERT SOILS C < 1% SOILS UNDER VEGETATION C > 20%

20 RAPID LOSS OF VEGETATION

21 LAND USE AND LAND USE CHANGES

22 ICELAND IS 10 MILLION HECTARES

23 LAND QUALITY SHALLOW, STONY, WET AGRICULTURAL LAND UNUSABLE LOWLAND ABOVE 200 m UNUSABLE

24 AGRICULTURE FOR THE FIRST 1000 YEARS Photo:

25 1920 CULTIVATION BEGINS Landbúnaður, mýrarnar og fólkið í landinu Nautgripir Sauðfé II:

26 Mynd: Benjamín Baldursson...MECHANISATON

27 Landbúnaður, mýrarnar og fólkið í landinu Nautgripir Sauðfé III: AND BETTER STILL...

28 THE GREAT CULTIVATION ERA Ditches, km Ditches Fields Fields, ha

29 1938

30 ?

31 2009

32 WHAT DO WE CULTIVATE? GREEN FODDER BARLEY VEGETABLES LEYS PERMANENT GRASSLAND

33 SHORT TERM LEYS TIMOTHY DOMINATES

34 OUR OWN TIMOTHY KORPA ADDA SNORRI

35 PERMANENT GRASSLAND

36 PERMANENT GRASSLAND 70 Timothy Meadow grass Red fescue Bent grass Tufted hair grass >30 YEARS

37 WINTER SURVIVAL IS A KEY ISSUE

38 EXTENSIVE WINTER KILL LAST WINTER Photo: Sigurður Eyþórssson

39 800 ha 500 ha 900 ha 1,900 ha 500 ha 1,300 ha 5,200 ha UNEVENLY DISTRIBUTED

40 HIDDEN DREAMS

41 LOCAL BREEDING EFFORTS: EARLY MATURITY WIND RESISTANCE MATURITY AT LOW TEMPERATURE Photo: Jónatan Hermannsson 41

42 SKEGLA ÍSKRÍA ÍSLÓMUR ÍSSKÚMUR...AND MORE TO COME 42

43 THE DREAM HAS COME TRUE! Photo: Ólafur Eggertsson

44 BARLEY CULTIVATION IS A REALITY... Barley fields, ha

45 OUR LIVESTOCK

46 UNIQUE BREEDS ISOLATED FOR 1100 YEARS CATTLE SHEEP HORSES GOATS

47 THE ICELANDIC COW

48 Milk l cow -1 yr -1...MILK YIELDS Year

49 THE ICELANDIC SHEEP

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51 Number of sheep HISTORY OF SHEEP PRODUCTION Cold years (drifting ice) Introduction of national quota Scab mite outbreak, eruptions, human epidemics etc. Scrapie outbreak Maedi-visna & Johne s disease outbreaks

52 MEAT CONSUMPTION

53 THE ICELANDIC HORSE

54 FUTURE PROSPECTS

55 CLIMATE CHANGE

56 xxxxxx CLIMATE CHANGE IN ICELAND (IPCC) Temp. Increase C TEMP INCREASE: 1 C TO til 2.4 C ~ 2100 PRECIPITATION: INCREASES 2-3% PER 1 C TEMP INCREASE FEWER DAYS WITHOUT PRECIPITATION LESS SNOW COVER HALLDÓR BJÖRNSSON

57 SUMMER TEMP IN REYKJAVÍK, MAY-SEPTEMBER, RED LINE ACTUAL MEAN; YELLOW LINE 11 YRS MOVING AVERAGES MEAN TEMP, C

58 Soon GROW OUR OWN CONCENTRATES Barley fields, ha (From Jónatan Hermannsson, 2013)

59 GROW CEREALS FOR OTHER THINGS NAKET BARLEY FOR FOOD MALTED BARLEY FOR BEER WHEAT FOR FODDER AND FOOD

60 PRODUCE OUR OWN ENERGY ETHANOL FROM BARLEY BIODIESEL FROM RAPE SEED METHANE FROM MANURE AND WASTE ETHANOL AND METHANE FROM HAY, STRAW AND LUPIN

61 USE GREEN ENERGY TO PRODUCE N FERTILIZER PRODUCE OUR OWN FERTILIZER GROW LEGUMES THAT FIX NITROGEN RYCYCLE PHOSPHORUS FROM WASTE

62 ...BUT GRASS WILL STILL BE THE BASIS... ACKNOWLEGEMENT TO COLLEAGUES FOR LIBERAL USE OF THEIR PHOTOGRAPHS