Iceland review - 2015, Page 45

ICELAND REVIEW 43
FArmiNG
“Farmers should have the opportunity to
sell their products directly. Today you can’t
sell meat unless you operate a slaughter-
house on your farm, and the conditions
you must fulfill are ridiculous.” Ástvaldur
adds that farmers can send their animals to
slaughterhouses and then process the meat
at home—provided they have the approved
production facilities. However, this makes
the products less attractive to consumers,
he reasons, and therefore farmers should be
given the opportunity to sell them directly,
without the intervention of a third party.
“Being a sheep farmer is a lifestyle,”
declares Jóhannes. He lives at Gunnarsstaðir
in Þistilfjörður, Northeast Iceland, one of
the largest and most profitable sheep farms
in the country. Two families run the farm,
which has 1,200 winterfed sheep. “If you
invest 100 million krónur in a sheep farm
and expect to get it back in your lifetime,
it won’t work out. However, if you’re sen-
sible, and build up gradually, you can earn
a decent income to support a family on an
average-size farm, with at least 600 to 700
sheep.” Still, farming alone doesn’t suffice.
“It’s necessary to have other income while
building up a farm. We have been lucky
here as the employment situation is good,”
Jóhannes says in reference to the fishing
industry in Þórshöfn, the region’s largest
town of 380 inhabitants. “Farmers can get
a job offloading boats in shifts from January
to March, which pays well.” Jóhannes
explains that such work goes together with
sheep farming as these months are usually
quiet. The sheep are kept inside and have
to be fed, but even with maintenance of
machines, farmhouses and fences, that’s not
full-time work. “additional work in mod-
eration can be a welcome change.”
Haraldur and Jóhannes, who used to be
chair of the National association of Sheep
Farmers, took action to help young farm-
ers starting out. “In the agriculture trade
agreement [from 2008] money from the
joint fund of sheep farmers was reserved for
supporting young farmers buying livestock.
It helped a lot of people,” explains Jóhannes.
Now mostly retired as a sheep farmer, his
children have taken over and the same
can be said for many of the other farms in
Þistilfjörður. “The children who were born
here between 1975 and 1980 were a tight-
knit group and when some of them started
coming home, others followed.” They’re
not in it for the money, though. “Sheep
farmers are like Bjartur í Sumarhúsum,”
Jóhannes says of Nobel prize in literature
laureate Halldór laxness’ legendary pro-
tagonist of Independent People (1934-1935).
“It’s hard work and it doesn’t pay much but
it gives you liberty, diversity and closeness
to nature.”
fear of freSH Meat and green
SUcceSS
In addition to direct agricultural sup-
port, imports into Iceland are prohibited
for uncooked meat and meat products,
uncooked milk and uncooked eggs, skew-
ing competition. However, some products
from the European Economic area (EEa)
partner countries and the more than 20
countries with which Iceland has free trade
agreements carry lower, or no, tariffs.
The EFTa Surveillance authority
(ESa) concluded in a reasoned opinion in
October 2014 that the Icelandic legisla-
tion applicable to the importation of fresh
four farms at the foot of raufarfell mountain with eyjafjallajökull glacier to the left. the area is known for dairy farming.