Greenland
Sheep farming and sustainable development
Sheep farming has been a subsidiary occupation in south Greenland since the beginning of the 20th century, and since 1924 it has also been a full-time occupation. In many ways, sheep farming fulfils the criteria for sustainable development set out in the Brundtland Report.
By Rasmus Ole Rasmussen
When people think about the Greenlandic landscape, they think of snow and ice, bare mountains and vast areas of tundra where reindeer and musk oxen roam as the only large mammals that can survive on the sparse vegetation. It therefore often comes as a surprise that south Greenland has verdant pastures, grass- and bush-clad hillsides and, in particularly sheltered valleys, even large trees. Similarly, sheep farming is seldom thought of as a traditional Greenlandic occupation.
However, besides the traditional chief occupations - hunting and fishing - sheep farming is one of the occupations that make a positive contribution to Greenland's economy. In 1989 an analysis showed that the contribution from sheep farming was more than DKK 4 million, after deduction of all production costs, interest payments, etc.
An important step in this development was a modernisation and development programme for the industry that saw the light of day in 1983. With this programme, the Federation of Greenlandic Sheep Farmers Associations, in cooperation with the Home Rule Government of Greenland, wanted to try to promote economic development that would help to achieve the Home Rule Government's vision of a society based mainly on the country's renewable resources. At that time, the basis for the development programme was around 60 years' sheep farming experience.
The startIt all started in 1905/06, when Pastor Jens Chemnitz from Narsaq Kujalleq (Frederiksdal) drew attention to the possibilities for sheep farming in south Greenland. Until that time, colonists had taken sheep with them to supply the colony with food and milk, but no one had thought of sheep farming as a real occupation. Jens Chemnitz travelled to the Faroe Islands to learn about sheep management and returned to Qaqortoq (Julianehåb) in 1906 with the first flock of 11 animals - two rams and nine ewes. Later, another eight animals arrived, some Scottish sheep and 170 animals from Iceland. This led to the establishment of a sheep farm in Julianehåb in 1915.
At first, the area's hunters and fishermen kept sheep only to supplement their income, but that situation changed in 1924, when Otto Frederiksen settled in Qassiarsuk with 145 animals, thus becoming Greenland's first fulltime sheep farmer. By 1935 Otto Frederiksen had increased his stock to 300 sheep, two cows and six horses, and - inspired by his success - another 14 sheep farms had been established. The settlements Qassiarsuk and Igaliko began functioning as centres for the new occupation.
Dependence on natureA very extensive form of sheep farming was practised, with the sheep out all year round, as in the Faroe Islands and on Iceland. That the sheep could be kept out in the somewhat colder and more snowy winter climate of south Greenland was due to the warm katabatic wind, which is called the föhn, and to the fact that the snow melts at regular intervals, making the vegetation available to the sheep.
| Rasmus Ole Rasmussen is senior Lecturer at Roskilde
University, North Atlantic Regional. |
However, in some years, the otherwise so regular föhn does not occur, and then the sheep
have difficulty in finding enough to eat. Or, worse still, the föhn only melts the
surface snow, which then freezes into ice. When that happens, the sheep cannot get
anything at all to eat. To remedy this problem, sheep farmers began experimenting with
different forms of winter fodder made from local products, e.g. silage of grass and fish
waste, and also began importing winter fodder. However, that had two drawbacks: firstly,
it was costly and, secondly, it meant that the sheep gathered around the feeding place,
treading down the vegetation and opening the landscape to increasing erosion.
Therefore, since the very start, sheep farmers in Greenland have had to learn to live with a wide range of uncertainties - firstly, uncertainty about how many sheep are going to survive the winter and thus uncertainty about income; secondly, the problem of obtaining and storing winter fodder in case there is no föhn; thirdly, growing attrition of vegetation and landscape; and lastly, the question of the yearly setting of the price for the farmers' products and thus the totally fundamental problem of managing to live only from sheep farming.
The home rule government's development programmeThose were the problems facing the Home Rule Government. They led to the decision to try a new development model that took account of some of the problems: the general uncertainty, the problem of winter feeding, and a change of sheep farming from a subsidiary occupation to principal occupation. Initially, the EU's Regional Fund promised support for the ideas, but with Greenland's withdrawal from the EU, the Home Rule Government intervened, guaranteeing the funding required by the development programme. The Federation of Greenlandic Sheep Farmers Associations), under the chairmanship of Kaj Egede, took care of the practical formulation. The seven main steps in the process were as follows:
Preparation of a general development programme, structured on the basis of such questions as principal occupation, securing winter fodder, better income conditions, better possibilities of communication, more social interaction, etc.
Mapping vegetation resources with a view to determining vegetation potential. As it was decided early on that the individual sheep farmer should be self-sufficient in winter fodder, the mapping work included indicating possible areas for intensive cultivation of winter fodder.
Development of the necessary technology for keeping and housing animals in the winter period. Keeping the animals in sheds makes it possible to minimise fodder consumption and reduce wear on vegetation around the feeding place.
Designing a programme for best possible use of the vegetation, which would also enable cooperation on machines and transport between the scattered sheep farms.
Clearance and cultivation of land to ensure the necessary winter fodder, construction of sheds and establishment of fences to ensure better utilisation of the vegetation and counteract counteract overgrazing, and construction of roads and better harbour facilities.
Establishment of an advisory and training system that would live up to the overall aims, which included a vocational training course in sheep farming leading to qualification as a sheep farmer. This step also included specifying the aim of the individual sheep farming family being allowed to keep enough animals - typically 400 - to ensure the family a suitable income.
Implementation of the new system, a vital element of which was active participation by the sheep farmers themselves. This is helping to preserve the characteristic sheep farming culture that exists in south Greenland today and that has been developed over more than three generations.
To give the industry an adequate economic basis, a tax was at the same time imposed on competing imported meat products with a view to making the relatively expensive homeproduced products more attractive to consumers.
Sustainable developmentFor a very good reason, sustainability was not on the political agenda at the time the development of sheep farming took place. The development programme saw the light of day three years before the Brundtland Report. Despite this, there are many similarities between the goal defined for sustainable development and the way sheep farming in Greenland has actually been developed.
The principles of sustainable development have been summarised as follows: "Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
This necessitates
 | a political system that ensures that the citizens are involved in the decisionmaking processes; |
| an economic system that generates surplus and technological knowledge that ensures a self-generating system; |
| a social system that guarantees solutions to problems resulting from unsustainable development; |
| a production system that respects the need to maintain a sustainable basis for development; |
| a technological system that develops or seeks new solutions; |
| an international system that supports sustainable commercial and financial systems; and last, but not least, |
| a flexible administrative system that is able to react to challenges. |
The development programme has clearly helped to ensure suitable economic units, technological development with winter housing and methods of farming adapted to conditions in Greenland, a socio-cultural programme that ensures interaction between users, and a development process based on users' interests and active participation. Furthermore, an industry has been established that not only provides value today but also creates a basis for future generations.
However, that does not mean that the industry can just lay back and rest on its laurels. Sheep farming is not yet an industry that will always contribute to a sustainable development process. Poor management of resources, lack of reaction to overgrazing, an inadequate market price, etc. can all shift the balance. And today's market conditions and economic problems are already changing the picture. However, the important thing is that a basis has been created that can be built on!