720 fragile eggs have to cross a 13 kilometer long and brutal winter mountain on Sørøya in Finnmark. Soon, Mette and Arnfinn Roland will have to balance the snowmobile past deep sinkholes. Before the trip, Mette has to stack trays upon trays of eggs. Eggs and bad weather are a bad combination, so they must be packed well. And without snowmobiles, the village cannot get its eggs. The weather does not cooperate. Photographer: Torje Bjellaas/news Both the gale and the snow come sideways. Mette and Arnfinn pass a weather radar in the middle of the mountain, the one that measures the most extreme weather Norway has to offer. Every Saturday they take the same trip from Dønnesfjord to the villages of Hasvik and Breivikbotn. They have customers who have ordered eggs, and Mette and Arnfinn do not like to disappoint their customers. Outside the island there is nothing but the icy Norwegian Sea. Here, the two of them and their son Tor-Vegard have decided to build and run a farm. The mountains make them completely dependent on snowmobiles in the winter. In the summer, when the snow is gone, they can drive on the narrow, steep dirt road. Down the last kilometer to the farm, they have to transfer to a four-wheeler. Green shift Mette and Arnfinn live here with a dream and a plan: Dønnesfjord will become green and fertile again. Everything that is heather, scrub and moss today must be turned into arable land. Before they came here in 2019, the land lay unused and overgrown for several decades. They took samples of the soil to see how it was doing. – It was terribly poor stuff. The soil was acidic, and not a single earthworm was to be seen, says Arnfinn Roland. The starting point was therefore demanding, and extra demanding because the method is unusual, almost untested this far north. The method is called regenerative agriculture. – If we had done this south of Trondheim, it would have been quite predictable how the earth responds when you do one thing or the other. This is not the case in an arctic climate, 70 degrees north. Mette is happy that she and Arnfinn moved to Dønnesfjord when they did. – If I were to reach it before I got too old, I had to do it now. Photo: Torje Bjellaas / news The most important thing to know about farmers who operate regeneratively is this: They do not use ploughs, artificial fertilizers or pesticides. The plow opens up the soil quickly and efficiently, but it can also be a strain on the soil. After generations of ploughing, the soil can become thin and less fertile. But the plow is really good for one thing: getting rid of weeds. And it has to go. Without the plough, other good helpers are therefore needed. First up: Three Hungarian woolly pigs. They are eager for work and have a strong snout. They break up the heather and moss, almost like mini ploughs. The goats graze systematically over the same patches of land. And then the hens have to turn. They first eat grass. Then their dung becomes valuable fertiliser. Photographer: Torje Bjellaas/news The result is a more nutritious and life-giving soil, a first step towards good pasture grass. Regenerative agriculture is considered to be kinder to the soil. It’s about building it up – literally, layer by layer – instead of plowing it up. Internationally, the method is starting to gain traction, especially because such soil can withstand climate change harder. In Norway, there are not many people who farm regeneratively yet.Regenerative agriculture You can farm regeneratively with or without livestock and grazing. You will work less in the soil and more on top of the soil, for example with surface composting. The method can contribute to lower CO₂ emissions, because the carbon remains in the soil. When the soil is ploughed, the carbon is released, meets the oxygen in the air and forms CO₂. Without ploughing, it is easier to maintain the nutrient-rich humus soil. Humus makes the soil airy and loose, and this soil is stronger in the face of both heavy rain and drought. In a small study, researchers concluded that vegetables, grains and meat from regenerative agriculture are healthier than traditional agriculture. More research is needed to conclude whether this is true for all regenerative agriculture. Source: forskning.no, Norsk Landbruksrådgiving One hundred year perspective Mette and Arnfinn Roland think in long lines, 100 years into the future. That is long after they have left the farm. – There will be more left after us than when I arrived, says Arnfinn. Mette and Arnfinn met each other as teenagers, in a boat on the Dønnesfjord one summer evening. Photo: Torje Bjellaas / news Before they moved to Dønnesfjord, it was about the company they started and ran within data security in Oslo. It was about the employees and the customers and that the company grew. The career path was exciting within a professional field they both enjoyed. But: – I was always homesick, I had it from day 1, says Arnfinn. Homesick for the north, but they took it step by step. First, just an hour north of Oslo, to Romerike, in the middle of what Arnfinn calls the “canola and corn mecca”. There, interest in agriculture became seriously important. – Something happened when I started studying agronomy on my own. Arnfinn remembers well the scene that became a kind of turning point. He walked the dog, strolled into a cornfield and knelt down. He had to find out what was actually found in the field. – I didn’t find what I hoped was there. He hoped for “land and life”. What he found was “sand and desert”. They had already started reading about regenerative agriculture. The disappointment in the cornfield was what made them want to invest in this method when they moved back to Sørøya in 2019. Will it be green? Tor-Vegard Roland wanted to “become more useful”. Now he is an important piece in Dønnesfjord. – We couldn’t have done it without him, says Arnfinn. Photo: Torje Bjellaas / news Mette, Arnfinn and Tor-Vegard have worked hard for three years, and so have their animals. With the help of fencing, the pigs and hens move beyond the fields in Dønnesfjord, square by square. Moss, heather and undergrowth turn into dark mold, and then pasture grass. The goal is to produce food for someone. They themselves to begin with, then maybe more. – Sooner or later we may produce a surplus, says Arnfinn. But the dream is to get it green in Dønnesfjord. How well is it actually going? Pretty good, they themselves think, after only three of the years in the centenary plan. They already see the cartoon. The goats feast on grass on a pasture that was only covered with soil a few weeks ago – after the pigs and chickens had “ploughed” and finished fertilizing – and peatland before that. What was acid soil and “terribly poor things” has become fertile, and the earthworm is back where it should be, in the soil. – They are everywhere, says Arnfinn Roland. Eggs for the islanders Back on the snowmobile over the rough winter mountains. The hurricane and impossible visibility mean that Mette and Arnfinn occasionally have to turn around when they would rather deliver eggs. But this Saturday it is the rain and the wind that have to give up. – Feeling the forces of nature is part of the trip, says Mette. The long journey over the mountain to the villages on Sørøya goes well, the eggs arrive, without a dent, to waiting customers. At the head of the queue in Breivikbotn is Marta Gamst. She takes a tray with 30 “real southern island eggs”. She calls the transport of goods over the mountain “simply madness”. – But they are a bit crazy. Gamst and the two egg producers laugh warmly as a team. People depend on people, here too. Arnfinn knows how to appreciate that. – I am sure that I have customers who are customers because they think what I do is cool. Mette Roland sells eggs to Marta Gamst. Above all, they have regular customers, who meet them after the hard egg transport. Photo: Torje Bjellaas / news Are you curious about the life of the family in Dønnesfjord? “Where no one would think that someone could live” has followed them for a long time. Here you can find the episode with them on news TV. Hello! Thank you for reading all the way here, and once I have you here: I, who work with “Der nigen skol trøn konkon could live” are always on the lookout for those who live without roads or far from people. If you know someone, I’d be happy for a message!
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Arnfinn and Mette Roland invest in regenerative agriculture in a difficult landscape on Sørøya in Finnmark – news Vestland
