Socio-econom­ical aspect of regen­er­a­tive farming in Lithuania

In a world where consumers spend less than 10% of their income on food, Niels, a dedi­cated regen­er­a­tive farmer, poses a crit­ical ques­tion: “How can we moti­vate consumers to value food again?” As he pioneers in Lithuania a revival of the connec­tion between consumers and their food sources, Niels believes that the answer lies in the very soil he culti­vates and the compelling stories it holds about the origin of healthy and tasty food.

To meet with Niels and learn about his story we trav­elled through endless fields of wheat in Ukmergė, Lithuania, where the signs of a changing climate are unmis­tak­able. While farmers in Lithuania prepare for their main growing season. This year’s dry spring (10-35 mm precip­i­ta­tion instead of 50-60mm) with a record of the second warmest May recorded since 1961, is just the latest blow. More and more farmers have to deal with unpre­dictable weather patterns and erratic rain­fall.

Niels is aware of the toll that climate change is taking on farming and there­fore adopted to regen­er­a­tive farming prac­tices focussing on soil health to create a resilient amd robust system. He has observed a surge in organic and regen­er­a­tive farming methods in his home country of Denmark and wants to imple­ment these prac­tices in Lithuania, where regen­er­a­tive farming has yet to gain trac­tion. While he mentions that still some work needs to be done to restore the degraded land he also explains that he feels respon­sible to take an approach that has a posi­tive impact on the climate.

Nonethe­less, when we discuss regen­er­a­tive farming, the focus is on creating an envi­ron­men­tally holistic approach that ensures soil health, minimising the need for external inputs. This allows the ecosystem to func­tion inde­pen­dently, progres­sively enhancing the land’s fertility each year. However, there is also a socio-economic aspect to regen­er­a­tive farming that is as impor­tant as the envi­ron­mental aspect. Farmers like Niels are aware that they need to engage with the commu­nity around them to make their work a success. Regen­er­a­tion is not an one-person task, but a communal effort.

Niels’ Journey: From Tradi­tional Farmer to Regen­er­a­tive Entre­pre­neur

Niels, a native from Denmark, comes from a lineage of tradi­tional farmers. He began his own farming career at the age of 14, working on a 12 ha farm field owned by his neigh­bours. By the time he was 23, Niels had purchased his own 30 ha piece of land and embarked on the path of conven­tional farming, a farming method promoting the use of chem­ical inputs to boost yield perfor­mance. While laughing he explains that this era was also known as the “Green Revo­lu­tion”.

Niels primarily grew mono­cul­ture grains, which he noted was consid­ered inno­v­a­tive at the time. He had no concerns about this farming method initially; these concerns only emerged later in his career. In 1989, he tran­si­tioned from farming to carpentry, purchasing a bank­rupt indus­trial window frame factory. For the next 20 years, he ran this busi­ness, which incor­po­rated sustain­ability through its part­ner­ship with the Forest Stew­ard­ship Council (FSC), the first in Denmark. This made him a pioneer in sustain­able window frames manu­fac­turing in Denmark. Through the part­ner­ship he learned more about climate change, sustain­ability and the impor­tance and respon­si­bility of including sustain­able methods into his busi­ness.

His life took a turn during a busi­ness trip to Lithuania, where he fell in love with Vilnius, enchanted by its charming atmos­phere and stun­ning archi­tec­ture. In 2005, Niels sold his busi­ness to a larger Swedish conglom­erate and used the proceeds to purchase prop­er­ties in Vilnius, including “Sena­torių Pasažas” a building with a restau­rant at the heart of the old town. This marked his entry into the food and hospi­tality sector. Now Sena­torių Pasažas is a vibrant venue dedi­cated to sustain­ably grown foods with 9 specialised shops and two restau­rants called Nineteen18 awarded with a Michelin Star and 14Horses awarded with a Michelin Bib Gour­mand.

Niels’ restau­rants aim to serve organic food, an idea seeded from Denmark where organic food was setting foot. But unlike in Denmark, organic prod­ucts were not seen as added value yet in Lithuania. Niels however, was deter­mined to find organic farmers supplying him with organic produce. While he could find organic farmers he could not find farmers that could supply him regu­larly with fresh organic produce he could use in his restau­rant. This brought him to the idea to go back to farming and start his own regenerative/organic farm with an on farm restau­rant called the ‘Red Brick’ in Lithuania. His mission is to get the quality of the produce as high as possible. In his opinion organic regen­er­a­tive ingre­di­ents have the best quality which impacts the taste of food.

Consumer Engage­ment through Short­ening the Supply Chain

Niels’ busi­ness places customers at the center while producing sustain­able, local, and flavourful food. This way, his activ­i­ties touch on all three aspects of regen­er­a­tive farming prin­ci­ples: The envi­ron­mental, economic, and social.

Niels is deeply committed to connecting consumers to his farm, as he firmly believes that consumers should be involved at the very begin­ning of the supply chain, rather than just at the end. He actively engages with consumers through a wide range of methods and activ­i­ties, with the goal of fostering a sense of commu­nity around his farm and promoting its regen­er­a­tive prac­tices.

Engage­ment with his customers primarily occurs through his restau­rants and shops. One of these restau­rants, known as “The Red Brick,” is partic­u­larly note­worthy. Situ­ated right on the farm, it stands out as the only organic certi­fied restau­rant in Lithuania and has this year received the pres­ti­gious Green Michelin star. This achieve­ment is a testa­ment to its outstanding sustain­able and eco-friendly culi­nary prac­tices, setting a high stan­dard for others to follow. Short­ening the supply chain involves creating added value prod­ucts, using the small shop on the farm, and other shops scat­tered across several areas selling prod­ucts made from the farm’s organic vegeta­bles and herbs. These shops not only offer fresh produce but also a variety of home­made jams, pickles, and sauces that are crafted from the farm’s harvest. Selling other prod­ucts made by local sustain­able farmers supports the local economy by connecting customers to local farmers produce, and signif­i­cantly reduces trans­porta­tion emis­sions asso­ci­ated with ship­ping food over long distances.

Further­more, the farm tours organ­ised by Niels attract a diverse array of groups. These range from farmers eager to learn from Niels’s inno­v­a­tive busi­ness prac­tices to school chil­dren visiting as part of educa­tional trips. The farm accom­mo­da­tions are a signif­i­cant draw for local agro-tourism, providing visi­tors with an unique and immer­sive expe­ri­ence of farm life. Addi­tion­ally, the annual ‘Farm on Fire’ Festival and confer­ence, held at the farm are increas­ingly popular. The festival attract around 2000 indi­vid­uals who might not have a prior interest in agri­cul­ture but come to enjoy them­selves, listen to music, and savour the deli­cious food produced and prepared on-site. During the festival, atten­dees are also encour­aged to support and learn about sustain­able agri­cul­ture through engaging in confer­ence talks, they broaden their under­standing and appre­ci­a­tion of regen­er­a­tive farming prac­tices.

Busi­ness model

At Niels’s farm, the produc­tion of Angus beef is absolutely vital for the farm’s finances. Niels has a herd of 400 Angus cows on his 600ha farm, of which 570ha are used as pasture­land. The cows are grass-fed, which helps decrease green­house gas emis­sions and promotes a healthier ecosystem. As the cows graze, their hooves and manure influ­ence the soil struc­ture, making it easier for carbon to be absorbed and stored in the soil while improving biodi­ver­sity. This natural process enhances soil fertility and captures more carbon, contributing posi­tively to the envi­ron­ment.

The grass-fed cows are combined with the use of regen­er­a­tive agri­cul­tural prac­tices such as minimum tillage (8cm soil cultivation and not flip­ping the soil over). On top of that they use strategic crop rota­tion, which includes inter­changing cover crops, grass­land, and young wheats (which provide whole seed foods for the cows), which has an immensely posi­tive impact on the previ­ously degraded farm fields. These prac­tices help to restore soil health, reduce erosion, and increase biodi­ver­sity.

When we asked Niels about the impact of these prac­tices, he recalls a recent obser­va­tion: “Yesterday evening, I visited one of our pastures and to my surprise I met with fifty Angus cows accom­pa­nied by around fifty storks. I think that is a sign that a fair amount of the microor­gan­isms as well as worms, snails and bugs are coming back making it a fair hunting ground for storks.”

However, he also mentioned that crop yields are not yet optimal. They expect to reach the desired yield levels within the next two years. Slow and steady progress becomes visible.

Addi­tion­ally, to shorten the supply chain of the Angus beef, Niels has opened his own slaugh­ter­house on the farm after a long period of waiting for munic­ipal permis­sion to operate. This facility will also help shorten the supply chain of meat produc­tion in the region, and it is open for use by other farmers as well, fostering a sense of commu­nity and shared resources. The diverse oper­a­tion requires a strongly knit team that oper­ates according to the same prin­ci­ples. During a conver­sa­tion with Liudas Gaivelis the Head of Organic Agri­cul­ture he mentions:

“I feel confi­dent working at Farmers Circle, the working condi­tions are good: I have the freedom to make my own deci­sions on top of that I feel part of a commu­nity with a mission. We do create the future of organic agri­cul­ture by learning from the best prac­tices every day.”

Conclu­sion

Niels’ story exem­pli­fies that building a regen­er­a­tive agri­cul­tural busi­ness is a multi­fac­eted endeavour. He demon­strates that true sustain­ability goes beyond soil health. It requires a holistic approach that priori­tises both the envi­ron­ment and the well-being of the commu­nity. By focusing on regen­er­a­tive prac­tices, and local engage­ment, Niels has created a model that nour­ishes the land, strengthens the commu­nity, and advo­cates for healthy, local food.