Icelandic Agriculture Conditions and Characteristics. Torfi J贸hannesson
Aim • To write an overview of the special characteristics of Icelandic agriculture in European perspective. Scope: • Countries vs. territories? • Primary production • Reference based factual review
ICELAND Area: 103 000 km2 Fishing grounds: 760.000 km2 Below 200 m: 25.000 km2 Population: 318.000 Pop. density: 3 pers./km2 Distance to Norway: 970 km Distance to Scotland: 800 km
As an EU MS, Iceland would be: - The most remote
Regions in NScandinavia are on similar levels of inh./km2
- The smallest population - The most sparsely populated
Cyprus is similarily distant from EU and the Outermost regions are further away.
Malta has 410.000 inh.
Climate
Seismic hazard
Agriculture in Iceland
How big is Icelandic agriculture?
Dairy production
Production and export of meat
Meat consumption
Animal diseases
[ World Organization for Animal Health ]
Day-degrees
Pesticide use (kg/ha UAA)
Fertilizer use
Horticulture
Forestry
Aquaculture
Conclusions • Icelandic agriculture faces many of the same challenges as can be found in many other less favoured areas in EU. • The country is dependent on import of grain, fruits and vegetables. • Compared to other EU countries, Iceland has a combination of many challanges and very few competive advantages: • All of Iceland is: • • • •
Northern Rural Remote Cold (short growing season)
• There is still considerable unused production capacity and the agricultural production is environmentally sound.