Agriculture on the Faroe Islands – Trap The Faroe Islands

The gross value within the resources industry. HAGSTOVA FØROYA

Although agriculture is today a small industry in the Faroe Islands, employing only a modest part of the workforce, and does not constitute a significant part of GDP, the traditional agricultural culture continues to be of great importance to Faroese society.

The uncultivated area outside urban and village zones is called the outfield, while the cultivated areas around towns and villages are called the infield. The outfield is divided into hagar, which make up the grazing areas in the mountains. There can be several owners or copyhold tenants in each hagi. In most places, the sheep have a right to graze in the infield from 25 October to 14 May. During the summer months, the infield is protected from sheep and other livestock, and the owner/copyhold tenant of the infield has a duty to fence. The owner of an infield may ask for winter protection and thus have the right of grazing of a hagi replaced against a fee.

The value of the agricultural land is still calculated in historical units: marka, gyllin and skinn, just as it is still divided into freehold land, where the farmers own the land, and copyhold land, where farmers lease the land and the rights of use. There are in total 374 copyhold tenants and a few thousand freehold farmers.

The copyhold land is administered by Búnaðarstovan according to the Act of the Faroese Parliament on Copyhold Land, which states that, in the case of a change of copyhold tenant, the retiring copyhold tenant will appoint his successor. Búnaðarstovan must approve the new copyhold tenant based on requirements for agricultural practice, agricultural education and residency requirements. Subsequently, a contract called a deed of tenure is drawn up. Freehold land changes owner either by inheritance or in the free market, and here there are no requirements for practice, education or residence.

Búnaðarstovan also manages around 500 leased cultivated plots of land called trøð and legutrøð. A trøð is a plot of land of about one ha, which is leased by the copyhold tenants to private individuals. Freehold farmers are mainly organised in Føroya Óðalsfelag (The Faroe Islands Freehold Association) and copyhold tenants in Bóndafelag Føroya (The Faroe Islands Farmers’ Association). Together, these two associations have established the company Jarðir to safeguard the interests of the landowners and the copyhold tenants in regard to outfield activities related to tourism.

Faroese agricultural subsidies amounted to DKK 17.2 million in 2018, corresponding to approx. DKK 345 per inhabitant. In comparison, the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in the same year amounted to approx. DKK 875 per EU citizen.

Sheep farming

Photo from the village of Sandur in the late 1800s. The sheep have been driven into the sheepfold in early summer to be able to shear the wool off the sheep and earmark the lambs. NATIONAL MUSEUM OF DENMARK

All freehold farmers and copyhold tenants, as well as most of the tenants of cultivated plots of land engage in sheep farming. The number of adult ewes in the outfield is approx. 70,000, and on leased cultivated plots of land there is a further approx. 2,000. The sheep breed from the Landnam period no longer exists. A new breed was imported in the 17th century, and since then there has been negligible interference from other breeds. Thus, the Faroese sheep are a separate breed related to the old breeds in the neighbouring countries.

The sheep graze outside all year, and the intention is that they have free access to seek shelter from bad weather, either in a stone fold (ból) or simple sheep shelters. The sheep are gathered three or four times a year; in spring to medicate and vaccinate, in summer to shear the wool as well as to medicate and vaccinate and in autumn to medicate, pick animals for slaughter and recruit new ewes and ram lambs for breeding.

Sheep farming is mostly done as a hobby, and most freehold farmers and tenants of cultivated plots of land only have a few animals each. In addition, many farmers have so few sheep that their undertaking cannot be viewed as commercial. However, sheep farming takes up a lot of space. All sheep are slaughtered on the property, and several families are often involved in the slaughter. All sheep meat is hung to wind dry in a storehouse called hjallur. A small proportion of the meat only hangs for a short time and is eaten fresh. The rest hangs for longer and is eaten as fermented (ræst) meat, as dry meat or as skerpikjøt (very dry meat that hangs for over a year). Around 60,000 lambs and adult sheep are slaughtered annually and have an average slaughter weight of about 15 kg. The commercial farmers who sell sheep meat get around 70 % of the VAT refunded as public agricultural subsidies.

The sheep are either white, black, grey, brown or mottled, and they are only sheared in summer. The price of wool is low, and subsidies are provided for a wool intake where sheep farmers can deliver the wool, which is sorted according to quality and colour and settled according to quality. The wool intake sells the wool to the highest bidder. Until now, the sheepskins have been salted for export, but in 2020, the Løgting granted subsidies for tanning.

Cattle farming

Haymaking in Gásadalur. The old form of haymaking where the hay was dried has been replaced, and the hay is now wrapped in plastic bales or stored in special wells as silage.
JENS CHRISTIAN TOP/RITZAU SCANPIX, 2017

There are currently 15 cowsheds with around 780 dairy cows. Of these, ten are old tethered stalling sheds and five have one or two robots. New robot cowsheds are being constructed in 2022, and it is expected that a similar number of tethered stalling sheds stables will go out of production.

Around 60 % of the cows are of the Danish Holstein breed and around 40 % are of the Norwegian breed GENO. The farmers sell all milk to the Faroese cooperative dairy MBM (Meginfelag Búnaðarmanna), which is owned by all the milk producers, who each have a tradable milk quota.

MBM buys around 7,500,000 litres of milk annually and make 70 product types. The producers receive just short of DKK 1 in subsidies per litre of milk. There is political will to maintain milk production, and the dairy can sell the milk VAT-free as part of consumer subsidies to support a healthy diet for Faroese families.

There is no actual beef cattle farming, but meat from the milk production is sold. All animals are slaughtered on the farm and sold directly to consumers. Producers receive subsidies for the sale of beef, and additional subsidies are provided for veal. The feeding basis of cattle farming is self-produced grass and imported concentrates, and the aim is to achieve a maximum share of self-produced straw fodder. Subsidies are provided for new indicultivation and own production of straw fodder. The FÖRKA biogas plant produces electricity and district heating from organic waste from fish farming and manure from dairy farmers. In return, the farmers receive degassed manure as quality-enhanced fertiliser.

Since copyhold tenants do not own their agricultural land, they often have difficulty obtaining bank financing for permanent investments unless they provide an equivalent value as collateral. To meet this challenge, the Løgting has set up an agricultural fund, the purpose of which is to strengthen the agricultural industry through financing. The agricultural fund’s income comes from the sale of copyhold land for construction purposes, roads, etc

Potatoes and vegetables

Faroese are traditionally major consumers of potatoes, and around 80 % is imported, while the rest is grown in the country. Rhubarb and a number of other vegetables grow well in the Faroe Islands, but they are only grown to a limited extent and mainly for own consumption. Some farmers, however, grow rhubarb, beets, kohlrabi, radishes, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, beetroot, leeks, etc. for sale. Currants, blackcurrants, gooseberries and strawberries grow well but are only grown for own consumption. In order to strengthen local food production, the Løgting provides support for experimental projects related to commercial vegetable cultivation.

Bird hunting, hare hunting and farm tourism

Previously, the combination of bird hunting, agriculture and fjord fishing played a vital role in the traditional food supply. Over the past hundred years, the hunting of birds has mainly been for common guillemot, Atlantic puffin, razorbill, northern gannet, great cormorant and northern fulmar. Some birds and bird eggs were caught in bird cliffs, while others were caught at sea. Today, birds are a delicacy with little quantitative significance, since the hunting has reduced considerably due to decline in most bird populations.

The hare was introduced to the Faroe Islands from southern Norway around the mid-19th century. The hare has gradually adapted to the Faroese nature and thrives on the many islands. Annual sales of hunting licences in November and December provide a contribution to farming operations.

The country is experiencing mounting interest as a tourist destination. In recent years, increased traffic in the outfield has caused a number of conflicts between the rural population and the tourist industry, but the tourism activity has also created new sources of income for the villages, where farmers and locals can offer guided tours as well as local food and cultural experiences.

Teaching and experimental activities

The agricultural authority Búnaðarstovan undertakes teaching and research as part of local, Nordic and international experimental and research projects. Various registrations of traditional sheep farming, feeding trials with sheep and cultivation trials with grass, grain, potatoes and berries are carried out.

Búnaðarstovan organises evening classes in agriculture-related subjects. The school is open to all interested parties, with priority given to those who are to take over a copyhold farm. Biology and science, plant science, livestock science, machines and technology, accounting and economics are among the subjects taught.

Sheep farming

Cattle farming

Potatoes and vegetables

Bird hunting, hare hunting and farm tourism

Teaching and experimental activities

Further reading