Development of open-field production in Lapland

Agriculture in Lapland is strongly based on cattle and grassland production, but there is little open-field horticultural production compared to its potential. The most recent development projects in the early 2000s activated open-field production and had a clearly stimulating effect.

The current project aims to encourage new entrepreneurs to enter the open-field production sector by providing information and training for trials. The experimentation will be organised over three growing seasons. Further processing can add value to the products and improve the profitability of open-field production. The project will also provide training in further processing and market preparation.

New entrepreneurs will be mobilised through networking with research institutes, training organisations, primary producers, kitchens and processors. The expertise of kitchen operators will be used to identify what is worth producing and how central kitchens can develop recipes to make use of locally produced food. This broad collaboration will aim to attract new open-field producers to the region to produce the horticultural products that restaurants and consumers in the area want.

The project is coordinated by the Natural Resources Institute Finland and co-implemented by Sodankylä Municipality and the Vocational College Lappia. The project is funded by the EU EAFRD. The total budget of the project is EUR 318 086,53, of which the EU contribution is EUR 136 777,20 and the State contribution is EUR 165 405.