Programme
In organic farming, livestock are a natural part of the whole. The question is not whether, but how?
Moderator: Peder Aukrust Osmoen
- 10:45: Coffee and tea served
- 11:00: Chair of the board Maria Bjune of Økologisk Innlandet welcomes you, with a brief presentation of the development project
- 11:15: Marianne Lunåsmo: Manure – resource and problem. Livestock manure as a necessary resource, and challenges posed by the new manure regulations.
- 12:00: Thomas Cottis: What can organic farming contribute to reducing/sequestering greenhouse gases, and how can we produce more organic food?
13:00: Organic lunch
- 14:00: Trond Qvale: The ruminant – a key species in healthy ecosystems, for soil health, plant health, animal health, public health, and climate.
- 14:55: Hanne Sickel: Use of outfield grazing resources, the importance of grazing for biodiversity, carbon sequestration in soil, and the albedo effect
- 15:45–16:00: ClosingSpeakers
Marianne Lunåsmo has been a full-time farmer for nearly 25 years. She was part of the first class of agricultural technicians at Fagskolen Innlandet, Storsteigen, in 2015. After that, she completed the one-year programme in organic farming taught by Thomas Cottis at Blæstad. She runs a conventional farm with dairy cows, sheep, and suckler cows. In addition, she has one season behind her on the NBS negotiating committee.
Photo: Emilie Westli Andersen
Thomas Cottis was the third organic farming adviser in Norway in what was called FØKO in 1988 (Experimental Ring for Organic Farming in the Inner Østlandet region). From 1989 to 2019, he ran Høgholen farm in Løten together with Kjersti Hoff. The farm was organic from 1990 and produces organic milk, meat, and grain. Their daughter and son-in-law now run the farm. Since 1996, Thomas has worked with organic farming at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences at Blæstad. He is responsible for the online study programme in organic farming, which admitted 207 students this year, and he also teaches agriculture and climate knowledge. As a hobby, Thomas has a market garden of just under two decares.
Trond Qvale has been a farmer at Horgen in Nes, Akershus, since the late 1970s. Production has shifted from milk, meat, and grain to meat, seed, and grain. Horgen was converted to organic farming from the late 1980s and in a regenerative direction over the past 10–15 years. The next generation is continuing and expanding along the same lines.
Hanne Sickel works as a researcher in the Landscape Monitoring department at NIBIO. Since 1999, she has worked on projects in the mountain farming region, including research on livestock grazing preferences and grazing patterns in outfield areas. In the ongoing project “Fjellbeite,” with study areas in both Nord-Østerdalen and Valdres, she and her colleagues are looking in particular at vegetation changes resulting from overgrowth, with regard to biodiversity, grazing quality, carbon sequestration in soil, and the albedo effect.
Background
Økologisk Innlandet has organised day seminars over the past two years on themes that highlight the role of organic farming in current social issues, in collaboration with NLR Innlandet, the County Governor of Innlandet (SFIN), and the professional organisations.
- December 2022 at Lena-Valle: “Soil health, fertilisation, and markets in organic farming”
- December 2023 at Jønsberg: «Organic farming and food preparedness»
Most of the presentations are available on our website https://okologisknorge.no/omoss/fylkes-og-regionlag/oekologisk-innlandet
Capacity building in more purely agronomic matters is covered by other stakeholders. We want to highlight practical responses to current societal challenges with recognised and forward-thinking lecturers.
This year's theme
This year, we have chosen to focus on livestock, and especially the role of ruminants in organic farming. There are fairly heated discussions in society about ruminants as major climate offenders and about reducing meat consumption in relation to nutrition, climate and animal welfare. At the same time, we need to increase the degree of self-sufficiency and find solutions to increase the use of our own feed resources. There is also debate about the framework conditions farmers need in order to be able to produce the food society needs and demands. Both meat consumption and imports of food and agricultural inputs have increased significantly over the course of a generation.
In organic farming, livestock is a natural part of the whole. The question is not whether, but how! Among other things, we are more dependent on manure than in conventional farming, and on making use of outfield resources and our own feed resources. How can we best balance numbers, animal species and feed resources to optimise these trade-offs? What can organic farming contribute to the discussions about livestock farming and diet?
During the winter of 2024–25, Økologisk Innlandet will carry out a preliminary project for the further development of organic farming in Innlandet. Innlandet County Municipality is providing financial support for the project, which is being carried out in collaboration with the County Governor of Innlandet, NLR, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Organic Norway and both agricultural organisations in the county. The goal is to describe the current situation, identify bottlenecks and plan a subsequent main project.
The day seminar in Alvdal will be an opportunity to present the work so far and to receive input from those attending.
Registration for :
Fill in the digital form https://forms.office.com/e/ABih5T0dd0 and pay NOK 300 to Økologisk Innlandet, Vipps no. 770363, or account 1822 07 99812 (remember to state your name). For catering purposes, we must receive registrations no later than 27 November. Registration is binding.