Lögberg-Heimskringla - 11.04.2003, Blaðsíða 4

page 4 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Friday, 11 April 2003

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This column recognizes people of Icelandic descent who have made or are making a contribution to the Icelandic/North American community. Please let us know ifthere is someone
you would like to see featured. Contact (204) 284-5686 or email us at logberg@mts.net
Frumkvöðull í lífrænni ræktun nautakjöts
Initiator of Organic Beef Production
In Canada there is increased demand for organically grown products. Bragi
Sæmundsson, a farmer near New Iceland, MB, has responded by feeding his beef cat-
tle only grass and no grain and therefore produces healthier meat than those who
feed their cattle grain. Steinþór Guðbjartsson visited him at Breiðablik and inquired
about this matter.
Hollt nautakjöt
Healthy beef
Bragi is one of four farm-
ers who have been producing
organic beef in New Iceland
for the last three years, and
said that demand for it
increases every year. “People
are becoming more aware of
the fact that what they eat does
matter. It has to do with health
and quality. I feed my beef
cattle only grass. There is
mofe omega-3-fat in meat
from grass fed cattle. It is sim-
ilar to the fat in fish. Research
has shown that omega 3 fat is
good for the heart and pre-
vents heart problems. On the
other hand beef from cattle
that is fed grain has more
omega-6 fat, which is bad for
the heart and can cause heart
disease. This is a big issue in
Canada. Last year a million
dollars was spent for research
done in Alberta. It revealed
the difference between omega-
3 and omega-6 fats.The
research is continuing.”
The meat Bragi produces
is indisputably good and he is
happy with the outcome. “It
has been going rather well. I
have about 250 beef cattle and
we sell a lot to one store in
Winnipeg that sells only
organic beef. Furthermore one
chain restaurant buys beef
from us, and more and more
are taking the bait, as it is
much healthier to eat this type
of meat than from grain feed
animals.”
The cattle are outside all
Bragi Sæmundsson, farmer at Breiðablik in New Iceland
MB, has about 250 beef cattle. He says that the sale of organ-
ically grown beef has increased steadily in Winnipeg.
Steinþór
Guðbjartsson
REPORTER FOR
Morgunblaðið
Reykjavík
Icelanders and people of
Icelandic descent have done
well in many different fields
and places in North America,
equally so in cities, rural areas
and at sea. But they do not
necessarily flaunt themselves
and do not proclaim their
achievements in the market
place. “I am not really doing
any more than others,” said
Bragi Sæmundsson, farmer at
Breiðablik in New Iceland,
MB, about his beef produc-
tion, but agreed that it is a
great improvement.
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year round. Bragi says that it
doesn’t affect them, even
though the change in the
weather is great from season
to season. For instance it can
get as cold as minus fifty
Celsius at the end of February
and up to forty degrees in the
summer. “The cattle stay in
the woods when it is windy
because there they have shel-
ter,” said Bragi, and thinks
nothing of it.
Öðruvísi á íslandi
Different in Iceland
The farm Breiðablik is
just east of Arborg and is
about 800 hectares. There
Bragi grows grass for his cat-
tle and grazes them also in the
fields and meadows. He has
lived there all his life and took
over the farrn when his father,
Gunnar Sæmundsson, quit
farming for heath reasons. “I
went to university to study
agriculture and when my
father went into the hospital in
1980, I took over and have
been doing this since.”
After Bragi had finished
his university degree at the
University of Manitoba, he
went to Iceland to study com-
parable operations there, and
then he went to New Zealand.
“I stayed with Magnús
Finnbogason at Lágafell in
Landeyjar the winter of 1977-
1978. He had a dairy farm,
200 sheep and 120 horses. No
farms here have that many
horses since there is not much
horse breeding here. It is very
different to be a farmer in
Iceland than here.”
Söngur og íslenska
Singing and Icelandic
. Bragi’s parents Gunnar
Sæmundsson and Margrét
Halldórsdóttir were born in
New Iceland and had seven
children. When Bragi’s pater-
nal grandparents, Jóhann
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Pétur and Þóra, quit farming
his parents took over. Gunnar,
who was better versed in
Icelandic and Icelandic litera-
ture than most others in the
district, named the farm
Breiðablik.
“There iswery good fami-
ly life in the district and good
neighbours,” he said. Bragi
and his wife Heather, who is
of Scottish and English
descent, have four children
between the ages of nine and
fifteen. They are Heiða, Avery
Hlíð, Óðinn and Jóhann. The
children are all in school in
New Iceland and sing
Icelandic songs, but do not
speak Icelandic.
“The children have been
taking Icelandic with my sister
Svava and know a few words,
but not enough to speak the
language. Avery, who is thir-
teen, is very interested in
lcelandic and would like to go
to Iceland in the near future,”
said Bragi who himself speaks
very good Icelandic.
He sings a lot and has
been in the Sóley Söngmenn
quartet for a long time.
“Really there are six of us
now, five from the Geysir dis-
trict and one from Riverton
We sing both in Icelandic and
English, but more in Icelandic.
Three of us speak Icelandic
and the others understand a
bit. We practice once a week
during the winter months
when our conductor, Kristín
Johnson, who is married to a
local farmer, is not away.”
Bragi said it is getting
increasingly difficult to keep
the Icelandic language alive in
New Iceland. “Few people rny
age speak Icelandic and nearly
none in the next generation.
There are a few boys who
have a great interest in
Icelandic matters. My neigh-
bour, Joel Friðfinnsson, is
extremely Icelandic. It is not
very long since his interest
was ignited, which shows that
there isn’t all that much that is
needed to light the fire.”
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