Education and research pave the way for a more self-sufficient Greenland

To get more local produce, someone needs to produce it. Shepherds in southern Greenland supply sheep, lamb, potatoes, and some vegetables such as turnips. And in 2019 Greenlandic Greenhouse – a foodstuffs start-up – began delivering fresh salad to most of Nuuk’s restaurants and supermarkets. But farming must be developed to secure increased self-supply which led the former Greenlandic government to adopt ‘Strategy for Agriculture 2021-2030’ in December of 2020. The strategy contains nine goals which the Agricultural Council is now pushing to get started.

On the priorities of tasks, Natuk Lund Olsen comments:

“In general, there’s been focus on agriculture and self-sufficiency from both the government and the people. In the Council, we call on using sheep training as the core to start from. We know this is going to take time, but the education should be made more attractive, otherwise there won’t be anyone to take over the farms or establish new farms.”

The education as sheep farmer is a three-year vocational education offered by Food College Greenland in Narsaq. It includes both animal farming and horticulture. Part of this education takes place in either the north of Norway or in Iceland, as well as one year at the agricultural school in Upernaviarsuk. The school is a bit isolated, roughly seven kilometers from Qaqortoq, and has room for six students. In the last few years, only three students a year have been enrolled. As part of the reform of the education, the intention is that the school should be upgraded since the facilities are worn out. Natuk Lund Olsen says:

“We want to encourage the government to evaluate whether Inuili should still be in charge of the sheep farming education since it seems like there’s a long way between the school and the institution on a number of different levels.”

Salad in the trash can

Sheep and lamb must have something to eat. And now we are finally ready to unveil what hides in the big, white rolls in Narsarsuaq and other places in southern Greenland. Hay. Between 30% and up to 60% of the feed is imported, depending on the local harvest. Increasing the amount of self-produced hay will be a significant contribution. It could, for example, be by mowing grass twice a year, as only a few farmers do today. Through the last three years, University of Aarhus, Pinngortitaleriffik (Greenland Institute of Natural Resources) and the agricultural school have experimented with different types of grass and use of glacial flour as a supplement to fertilizers and limestone on the fields of Upernaviarsuk. Seaweed has also been tried as a fertilizer. All initiatives taken to find alternative methods to increase the yield.

Experiments are not limited to Upernaviarsuk. In September of 2021, Greenlandic Greenhouse was nominated for the Nordic Council’s Environment Prize because “… Greenlandic Greenhouse produce local foodstuffs in an environmental- and climate-friendly way that supports a more sustainable food system in Greenland.”

Co-owner of Greenlandic Greenhouse explains to KNR that should the company win the Environment Prize, they aim to start growing even more vegetables – tomatoes, strawberries, cucumbers, and mushrooms. But until then they will focus on salads and herbs. And as Natuk Lund Olsen says:

“We can now buy fresh salad in the supermarket at half the price of imported salad – and it tastes even better.”

Contact: Natuk Lund Olsen

Source: The Agricultural Council (accessed August 20, 2021)

Links: FoodLab Greenland

The sheep farming profession is developing positively (Fåreholdererhvervet er i positiv udvikling 

Sermitsiaq, 21. juli 2021)

Download “Strategi for Landbrug” in Danish/Greenlandic here.

Strategi for Landbrug 2021-2030 (accessed August 20, 2021).

Greenlandic Greenhouse 

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This article is part of a theme issue of Polarfronten about Arctic Hub. The issue has been made as a collaboration between Arctic Hub and Polarfronten.