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Erik has a preparedness garden:
“Having a basement full of canned food is just a joke”
This year, Erik Røed has around 70 different types of plants on his small farm in Norway. A researcher argues that we need to cooperate within local communities to be prepared for a potential crisis.
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There is something special about growing your own food.
Picking tomatoes from your own plants, pulling odd-shaped carrots out of the raised bed, and picking blackcurrants from the bushes behind the house.
Nutritious, delicious, and homegrown.
But is that enough if that’s all we have?
One person who feels very well prepared for a serious crisis is farmer Erik Røed.
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“Having a basement full of canned food is just a joke,” he tells Science Norway. “Emergency preparedness is the knowledge you and I possess, not all the canned goods sitting in your storage room.”
Rotating the crops
Røed and his wife grow food on a small farm in Sokna in eastern Norway.
Their large vegetable gardens contain crops such as cabbage, kohlrabi, lettuce, fennel, broccoli, turnips, herbs, potatoes, and beans.
The farm also has free-range chickens, outdoor pigs, and its own beehives.
“It’s not just about getting things to sprout and grow. There's so much more to it," says Røed.
From city to countryside
This is something he knows a lot about.
Ten years ago, he and his family moved from an apartment in Norway's capital Oslo to the farm in Sokna. He and his wife dreamed of farm life.
But according to Røed, it took a long time before they really got their food production going.
"It’s only now that we could actually survive for real," he says. "It only took us ten years."
The importance of soil
Growing food the way they do on the farm requires a fair amount of know-how.
They grow as many types of plants as possible to maximise land use and rotate what they grow where.
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Where cabbage grows this year, something else grew last year – and something else will most likely grow there next year.
The purpose is to keep the soil fertile, ensure adequate nutrients, and prevent disease.
"It’s not just us who need to prepare. The soil here is also in a sort of preparedness mode," Røed tells Science Norway.
Not fully cultivated
The farm is named Herfra, which can be translated to From here. It covers about 5 hectares (or about 50 decares). Much of the landscape consists of forest and steep slopes. Only about a quarter of the land is actually suitable for cultivation.
Although the Røed family tries to cultivate the land fully, they are unable to do so.
"We don't stand a chance of fully using even this tiny property we have here," he says.
His point is that there is a great deal of arable land in Norway that is not being used.
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"Even this patch of land in the middle of nowhere has far greater potential than we are able to make use of," he says. "This is happening every day all over Norway. The landscape is becoming overgrown."
He points out that starting food production from scratch in the event of a crisis would be a daunting task.
"By then, nature would have taken over again," he says.
Look to your nearest farmer
Not everyone can do what Erik Røed and his family have done. Some of us might have a couple of tomato plants on the balcony or a raised bed in the garden. But that won't be enough if a crisis actually occurs.
In that scenario, knowing the nearest farmer and connecting with people like Røed becomes important.
That’s what researcher Hege Westskog at the University of Oslo thinks. She believes preparedness is about having strong local communities and a great deal of trust.
"We can't all be self-sufficient, but what about being collectively sufficient?" she asks.
We all have a role to play
Westskog believes we need to cooperate within our local communities to be prepared for a potential crisis. The researcher says this is the best form of preparedness for individuals and families.
“Not everyone necessarily needs to grow vegetables. It's entirely possible for people in cities to build connections with their surrounding rural areas,” she says.
There are already systems in place that foster closer ties between farmers and consumers. REKO-ring is a network in which farmers advertise goods for sale in local Facebook groups. There is also something known as community-supported agriculture, where you buy a share of a farm’s annual harvest before the season begins.
People in cities also grow food, for instance in allotment gardens and rooftop gardens. Felleskjøpet, a major Norwegian farmer-owned agricultural cooperates, has launched a dedicated cooperative group for urban agriculture and urban farmers.
Nevertheless, Westskog believes it is too difficult for ordinary people to access locally produced food.
How can more people be encouraged to choose locally grown food?
"REKO-ring and farmers' markets cater to people with a special interest. You can't expect every family to do things that way," she says.
Westskog believes the authorities need to make it easier for ordinary people to buy and eat locally produced food.
She suggests this could be achieved through shared allotment and rooftop gardens facilitated by an urban agriculture centre, support schemes for people who want to grow their own food, and municipal initiatives to foster cooperation on shared harvesting.
"National and local authorities need to recognise that there are many different ways of farming that can be significant for quality of life, emergency preparedness, and the environment," she says.
Important for the environment
Westskog is part of Include, a research group at the University of Oslo specialising in social inclusion and the environment. She believes there is a strong link between environmental issues and emergency preparedness.
For example, having food produced nearby is beneficial for both.
"Climate and environmental issues are about living good lives locally. That's also what preparedness is about," says Westskog.
The researcher explains that we have created a system that strongly favours a form of agriculture in which a single plant species is grown over a large area for several years.
"That's a problem for both emergency preparedness and the environment," she says.
The importance of diverse crops
In an op-ed published on forskning.no (link in Norwegian) this summer, several researchers noted that surprisingly little is being said about what kind of food Norway would actually rely on during a prolonged crisis – and the implications this could have for public health and, consequently, societal resilience.
The researchers wrote that while national grain reserves would help prevent starvation, the country ought to also focus on legumes, nuts, seeds, and fish for protein – as well as potatoes and other root vegetables.
Hege Westskog agrees.
"Growing a variety of crops is an important preparedness strategy," she says.
That is why Røed and his family grow between 60 and 70 different types of plants on their farm.
"We are well prepared for a crisis, whether the supervolcano in Bali erupts and blocks out the atmosphere for three stormy years, or war comes to Norway," says Røed.
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Translated by Nancy Bazilchuk
Read the Norwegian version of this article on forskning.no
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