Green Perspectives
Since the association Økologisk Samsø (Organic Samsø) came into existence five years ago, a lot has happened. The association has seen some budding with the result that it is now involved in everything from slaughterhouse to permaculture.
The Agriculture Fund
One year after the formation of Økologisk Samsø, the association expanded with The Agriculture Fund, SamsØkologisk, with the purpose of buying up land and farms on Samsø and reorganizing them into organic enterprises. “The farms will be rented out to young, organic farmers, who would otherwise have difficulties in fulfilling their dreams of going independent, and in doing so facilitate the generational change in a cash-starved business”, Marianne Koldby explains. She is responsible for communication and PR of the fund.
The first farm – Yduns Have in Alstrup – was bought in 2016, but their ambitions don’t stop here. “We are making efforts to buy two or three farms during the next year, and over the next five years from now we plan to purchase 15 to 20 farms, establish a dairy, and a lot more”, Marianne explains. We will raise the capital through issuing shares for up to seven million DKK every year.
There will be investors from all over the country. “Fortunately, many people realize the sensible aspect of expanding the area of organic farm land on Samsø. It makes sense from both health and environmental perspectives as well as from an economic perspective”, Marianne concludes.
Yduns Have
We know Ydun as the goddess with the golden apples which enable the gods to retain their youth. They don’t grow those kinds of apples on the farm Yduns Have, but they grow many other things – including good karma!
This year, the couple Hester Callaghan and Bjarke Jensen is beginning five exciting years as tenant farmers. “There is a very special energy on Samsø, and we can’t stop rejoicing over the organic network gaining ground on the island”, Hester explains.
Yduns Have supplies vegetables to many of the island’s restaurants, and they are famous for their well-stocked vegetable shop where both local people and holiday makers do their shopping. The farm is run as a Community Supported Agriculture, where 60 families from Samsø, at the beginning of the year, pay in an amount of money used for the purchase of seeds, plants, and equipment. In return, during the season, the families pick up fruits and vegetables in amounts corresponding to the yield of the fields of the previous week. Consumers and farmers share the profits and the risk.
Øko And Samsø
Have you ever heard a happy duck quacking? If not, you should drop by the farm Kristensminde near Nørreskifte whose farming land hosts the small enterprise “Øko And Samsø”. On this land, duck mommy and duck daddy, Mette Kjær and Peter Sørensen, treat their many ducks with free access to outside areas and water basins.
Mette and Peter moved to Samsø as the island offered an opportunity to become part of the existing organic involvement while, at the same time, the island’s climate provides good living conditions for their ducks. An in addition, there was The Agriculture Fund which made all of it possible. “Unfortunately, The Agriculture Fund did not have a farm we could rent, but they put us touch with Ida and Morten Kristensen who run Kristensminde and Samsø Mel (Samsø Flour). Kristensminde has been organic since 2002 and is based on plant production exclusively. Our ducks fertilize their fields and we buy our grain feed from Morten. In this way, our two very different productions go hand in hand”, Peter explains
Last updated: 26/08/2020 11:19
