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

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

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

...IN A EUROPEAN CONTEXT Inhabitants km -2 1.400 1.200 Inhabitants/km 2 1.000 800 600 400 200 1/6 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

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

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

WE SUPPLY HALF OF THE ENERGY NEEDED

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

ha MEAN FARM SIZE (ha) 700 Arable land Other UAA 600 500 400 300 200 100 - 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

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 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 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 0 500 1000 1500 2000

THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT

MILD MARITIME CLIMATE

10 C ISOTHERM JULY ARCTIC CIRCLE ICELAND

JULY TEMPERATURE Daily min and max in July - C 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Reykjavík Tromsø Edinburg Helsinki Brussels Vienna

ACCUMULATED DAY DEGREES (TSUM <5 C) 1500 1000 500 0

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

NERC Satellite Receiving Station, Dundee University, Scotland)

AP Photo/Brynjar Gauti

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

RAPID LOSS OF VEGETATION

LAND USE AND LAND USE CHANGES

ICELAND IS 10 MILLION HECTARES

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

AGRICULTURE FOR THE FIRST 1000 YEARS Photo: www.mennta.hi.is

1920 CULTIVATION BEGINS Landbúnaður, mýrarnar og fólkið í landinu Nautgripir Sauðfé 250 200 150 II: 1920-1945 100 50 0 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000

Mynd: Benjamín Baldursson...MECHANISATON

Landbúnaður, mýrarnar og fólkið í landinu Nautgripir Sauðfé 250 200 150 III: 1945-1980 100 50 0 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000...AND BETTER STILL...

THE GREAT CULTIVATION ERA Ditches, km Ditches Fields 35.000 30.000 25.000 20.000 15.000 10.000 5.000 Fields, ha 160.000 120.000 80.000 40.000 0 1941-1945 1951-1955 1961-1965 1971-1975 1981-1985 0

1938

1960-70?

2009

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

SHORT TERM LEYS TIMOTHY DOMINATES

OUR OWN TIMOTHY KORPA ADDA SNORRI

PERMANENT GRASSLAND

PERMANENT GRASSLAND 70 Timothy Meadow grass Red fescue Bent grass Tufted hair grass 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1 2-5 6-10 11-20 21-30 >30 YEARS

WINTER SURVIVAL IS A KEY ISSUE

EXTENSIVE WINTER KILL LAST WINTER Photo: Sigurður Eyþórssson

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

HIDDEN DREAMS

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

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

THE DREAM HAS COME TRUE! Photo: Ólafur Eggertsson

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 BARLEY CULTIVATION IS A REALITY... Barley fields, ha 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0

OUR LIVESTOCK

UNIQUE BREEDS ISOLATED FOR 1100 YEARS CATTLE SHEEP HORSES GOATS

THE ICELANDIC COW

Milk l cow -1 yr -1...MILK YIELDS 6000 5500 5000 4500 4000 3500 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 Year

THE ICELANDIC SHEEP

Number of sheep 1.000.000 HISTORY OF SHEEP PRODUCTION 900.000 800.000 700.000 Cold years (drifting ice) Introduction of national quota 600.000 500.000 400.000 300.000 200.000 100.000 Scab mite outbreak, eruptions, human epidemics etc. Scrapie outbreak Maedi-visna & Johne s disease outbreaks - 1650 1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 2050

MEAT CONSUMPTION

THE ICELANDIC HORSE

FUTURE PROSPECTS

CLIMATE CHANGE

xxxxxx CLIMATE CHANGE IN ICELAND (IPCC) Temp. Increase C TEMP INCREASE: 1 C TO 2050 1.4 til 2.4 C ~ 2100 PRECIPITATION: INCREASES 2-3% PER 1 C TEMP INCREASE FEWER DAYS WITHOUT PRECIPITATION LESS SNOW COVER HALLDÓR BJÖRNSSON WWW.VEDUR.IS

1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 SUMMER TEMP IN REYKJAVÍK, MAY-SEPTEMBER, 1924-2012 RED LINE ACTUAL MEAN; YELLOW LINE 11 YRS MOVING AVERAGES MEAN TEMP, C 12 11 10 9 8 7

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Soon GROW OUR OWN CONCENTRATES Barley fields, ha 25.000 20.000 15.000 10.000 5.000 0 (From Jónatan Hermannsson, 2013)

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

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

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

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