Today we visited several sustainable entrepreneurships in the Swedish agricultural sector!
We started in the morning by bus and visited at first Johan Widing and its eco farm Bokeslundsgården. The first thing we got to see were his free-range pigs and poultry. He is working with landraces and is also keeping bees. In recent years, he bought some other old farms and established now an AirBnB. He also has a greenhouse which was amazing – it was full of diverse plants, like peach tress, olives or grapes. Within the large greenhouse there was another smaller one with more sensitive plants. The smaller greenhouse is additionally protected by the larger one. Johan is delivering his products to restaurants to Malmö and through REKO-ring, a transparent network of farmers and customers which is communicating via facebook and where farmers deliver exactly the amount demanded.
The next stop was Botildenborg, Malmö. Botildenborg is a foundation who funds Stadsbruk, and Stadsbruk is just amazing! Stadsbruk is working together with the city Malmö and is helping urban farmers to get their business running. At the same time it has its own educational farm where people (schools, interested people, etc.) can come, learn about growing plants, how to take care about the soil/ecosystem or just share experiences and enjoy the community. Stadsbruk is placed between different cultures and at first it was challenging for them to integrate the different parties. Now, it is still challenging, but people become more open and take part in common projects there. Stadsbruk is doing a lot more but I can´t remember everything right now 🙂
If you are interested, check them out: http://stadsbruk.se
Stadsbruk has a program where innovative farmers can get a piece of land in the middle of Malmö and start farming for one year. If they are successful, they get a larger piece of land with a lease contract for 25 years. One student of the Agroecology program did this and has now its own urban farm outside Malmö (not outside but on the edge of the city).
The last stop was Goran Claesson, the Agroecology student I mentioned 😉
He took part in this program from Stadsbruk and is now selling organic microgreens. Besides this, he gives workshops and lectures. His small-scale farm, VEGOSTAN, is now growing: https://www.facebook.com/vegostan/?__tn__=%2Cd%2CP-R&eid=ARAkvXf5G1XkAWgRbr6Sr9Kh28OPkBtOEcpWt3J5oXFSFyVvtOyVwzZ9pTbKb_hqas3UTCiNigd7JrMs
