Narayanas agriculture

The agriculture story

The property called “Kalvsøgård” was acquired in 1967, and together with a neighbouring property, comprises the original physical frame. During the first years, the activities were centred around renovation and rebuilding. The agricultural activities were experimental in nature, as none of the inmates had any experience in agriculture.

In 1972 an attempt was made to establish a dairy herd of 60 cows in order to create an economical basis. This project was, however, given up within a year, and for some years the inmates earned their livelihood at nearby factories and plant nurseries instead. A part of the land was leased out for 5 years, and the farming was directed towards providing articles of food grown without pesticides and fertilizers. A stock of 6-8 cows was maintained to cover the demand for milk and milk products. During that period the cows were placed in one of the old farm buildings and milked by hand.

In 1977, the leasing contract ended, which made it now possible to construct new and modern farm buildings with space for 16 jersey cows. In the cowshed, a pipe milking system was installed, together with a grain mill with cleaning facilities. Further a barn, a silo and a machine house was constructed – all the building work performed by the inmates, with and without handworker experience, and with some experience from prior building projects. A modern machine park was also purchased.

The basic ideas and the first research projects

The basic idea of the agriculture has always been to cultivate the soil without using fertilizers and pesticides, thereby providing the inmates with organic foodstuff of the highest quality, as well as developing a method of farming which preserves the fertility of the soil and has the least possible influence on the environment.

Because of the ecological farming Narayana’s herd already took part in a private research project established by KFK (The Grain and Foodstuff Company) between1983 and 1987. The project compared the results in various dairy stock herds, of which Narayana’s 16 jersey cows took part as the only ecological herd.

The results from this project gave some basic knowledge, which was later used in various research projects initiated and financed by state funds according to the “Act on Ecological Agriculture” from 1987. According to this law, the first of its kind in the world, ecological farming and similar projects could now be directly supported by government funds.

Research at the National Institute of Animal Science, Denmark

Together with 17 other organic farms, Narayana took part in the research project called “Ecological Farming Systems” 1988-1993, supported by the Danish Ministry of Agriculture and conducted by the National Institute of Animal Science at the Foulum Research Centre in Jutland. This project became an international break-through for the ecological research work in Denmark and, for the first time, important environmental benefits of using organic production systems versus conventional ones were demonstrated scientifically. For instance, the surplus of nitrogen, and thereby the risk of washing out nitrogen, was 50% higher in average at comparative conventional farms.

The so-called “system research”, which was developed in this project, has been groundbreaking in agricultural research. Whereas previously research was usually conducted in specialized areas within farming and animal stocks, today research is to a large extent done in total production systems. Furthermore, the many years of participation in these projects has improved the farming results at many of the farms involved.

In 1988 Narayana’s ecological milk production could be sold to the first ecological consumer milk dairy in the country, Naturmælk (‘Natural Milk’). This meant that now, for the first time, the income from selling milk to some extent could compensate for the higher costs of organic farming. In the beginning, the milk was delivered from 5 smaller farms in the middle of Jutland, but soon some larger farms in southern Jutland joined and today southern Jutland has the highest concentration of ecological milk producers.

The dairy project was supported by the Danish Ministry of Agriculture as a pilot and development project and it was of great importance for the development of the ecological milk production in Denmark, which today is the biggest in the world. In 1988 there were about 10 ecological milk producers and it was difficult to collect 1 million litre of ecological milk in a year. In 1995 there were 146 producers with a yearly production of 47 million litres, and in 2004 there are 550 producing 411 litres of ecological milk in a year. Today more than 25% of the total Danish consumer milk is produced at ecological dairy farms.

Rotation of crops

Over the years the agriculture has developed a simple and harmonious method of farming through the interaction between the many different research projects and practical experience. The rotation of crops is simple, with grain and fodder crops, including a great part of clover grass and alfalfa that preserves the fertility of the soil. Clover grass is one of the very few crops that increases the humus in the soil, especially if the fields are kept 3-4 years, as it is common at Narayana.

At the same time, a minimum of the main nutrients - nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium - is removed, as the crops are mainly used for fodder for the cows. The clover fields gather so much nitrogen from the air that following grain crops demands are largely covered, and the naturally existing phosphorus in the soil is more accessible to the plants due to the great amount of mykorrhiza fungi found in organically cultivated soil. Potassium is usually found in such great amounts in the soil that additional supplements are unnecessary in organically cultivated soil, where the biological activity is not disturbed or destroyed by pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. The consumption of micronutrients is not great, and these nutrients are circulated back into the soil to a great extent via composted cow manure.

Present status

Acquiring more land in 1998 made Narayana nearly self-sufficient with fodder for the animals. At the same time some land was exchanged with 3 neighbouring farmers who had fields close by. As most of the fields are now surrounding Narayana it is easier to let the cows graze during the summer, and also the distance to and from the fields has become shorter. The clover grass is also harvested for winter fodder as silage or hay. Barley and peas are cultivated together, harvested when ripe, and rolled to make concentrates for the cows.

The wheat and rye from the fields are made into fresh flour, which is used by the bakery for different types of bread. The Jersey cows daily provide fresh milk and milk products of the highest quality. This amounts to about 20,000 litres yearly – almost 1/3 of the total production. The greenhouse and vegetable fields supply the many different vegetables that are the basis of the vegetarian diet. Thus Narayana has maintained a high degree of self-sufficiency with ecological foods.