Wapnö Gård

beautiful rainbow over Wapnö FIELDS

Wapnö AGRICULTURE


Land and fields are the most important long-term resource for Wapnö farm. We grow food for humans and animals.  Wapnö's vision is that the land is the most important resource for creating a sustainable future. The fields must produce healthy food for the people in the city and for the animals on the farm. Cultivation must be energy efficient and with the plant as a tool to create minimal inputs of energy.

Fields and animals are the hub of the farm's own ecological cycle. Wapnö farm takes care of and uses approx. 3,000 ha of cultivation and grazing and 550 ha of FSC-certified forest. Wapnö farm is by Swedish standards a large farm, but has therefore been able to create a sustainable small-scale and artisanal food production. Thanks to our large-scale primary production, it has also been possible to create the country's most environmentally efficient biogas plant, which only digests animal manure and digestate. The bio-fertilizer becomes nutrition for the fields. A true cycle where the cow and the field are in harmony and dependent on each other.

Unconventional cultivation
We are not entirely sure which farming system is best - 'organic' or 'conventional'. We have twenty-five years of experience in KRAV-approved cultivation, but have learned that it does not solve everything. It means more field waste and more inputs per unit of feed or food produced. It is also doubtful whether this method has led to reduced energy consumption or whether the waterways have become cleaner. The old traditional/conventional cultivation is questionable for other reasons, which has led us to a third path which we call unconventional cultivation. We believe in a mix between conventional cultivation and KRAV-cultivation that has been upgraded to "Wapnö cultivation" This method is best in the farm's own ecological cycle, where you can protect the land - a resource that must be preserved and used wisely and sensibly.

The third cultivation system is a bit smarter than the other two, which today are often pitted against each other. Our long experience says that a combination of both cultivation systems is the best for the future.

SPRING AT Wapnö FARM

Spring can be early or late and never arrives on a fixed date, but when the frost has left the soil it is time to start the intensive spring farming.

PlOUGH

To plough or not to plough can be a difficult choice. Some believe that the ploughing should be part of the crop cultivation work, while others see great advantages without this tool. Crop rotation, soil type and, not least, what the farmer himself believes are likely to be decisive for the result, regardless of which technology is chosen. At Wapnö, we ploough certain fields, but we also have fields that have not been plowed for many years.

HarROW

A harrow is used after ploughing for breaking up and smoothing out the surface of the soil. The purpose of harrowing is to break up clods and to provide a soil structure, that is suitable for planting seeds. 

SOWING

Small seeds should be placed at the exact depth, not too shallow and not too deep. The seeding depth is important and is different depending on the crop. This is precision work, which our talented machine operators can handle, despite large areas, just like in our own garden lands. 

FERTILIZATION

The plants receive their nutrition in the form of digested residues from the cows' manure that has passed through the biogas plant. It is laid out directly on the ground with the help of a special fertilizer spreader, where we pump the fertilizer out to the fields instead of driving it out with a tractor. This means that we save thousands of miles of transport each year. 

WHAT WE GROW

Härodlat® animal feed is an important part of farming. They eat grass, clover and go to pasture. Straw is good for a ruminant cow in winter when they also eat silage and corn. Barley and rye are also relevant as fodder. Rape cultivation is important as protein feed and straw as bedding, which also has an effect in the biogas plant. We also grow wheat, spelt wheat and rye which is ground into flour. Malt grain is also an important part, where we malt the grain ourselves for our brewery.

 

RYE FIELD

Whole rye flour is a type of flour that is made by grinding whole rye grains.

WHEAT FIELD

The wheat is milled into white and whole grain flour.

Spelt WHEAT

Spelt wheat, is an old type of grain that after grinding is called spelt flour. 

RAPESEED FIELD WITH BEEHIVES 

We use rapeseed as protein feed for our animals. In fields number 26, 64 and 65 we have beehives. Our bees produce a wonderful, sweet honey.

SoY

At Wapnö, we do not use imported soy. Own soy cultivation is an experiment.

BARLEY

Barley becomes feed for the animals. Malt grain is also used in our malthouse and brewery. 

GRASS

Silage is the basis of the animal's feed. We usually harvest grass four times a year. 

FIELD BEANS

Field beans provides protein for the animals.

GRASS HARVESTING

The grass is what we harvest first, already in the middle or end of May. We usually harvest 4 times a year. We fill our silos with about 10,000 tonnes, and it becomes good fodder for the animals throughout the winter. The dry matter should preferably be 35%. We chop, pack and cover the grass. It is a very simple instruction to get an excellent Härodlat® silage. When you store and preserve the grass in an oxygen-free environment, it is called silage. It becomes a very tasty and nutritious feed for the animals. Our cows then transform the grass into excellent food - Härproducerat®

HARVEST TIME

The grain must be threshed, dried and turned into fodder and bedding for the animals. There will be malt for the beer and flour for the baking. Many things have a bearing on whether there will be a good harvest or not. The falling number test determines the amylase activity of a flour sample. The amylase enzymes are used to break down the starch in flour to release sugar ready for fermentation.

AGRICULTURAL machinery and equipment

Here are some of the machines at the farm. Fortunately, technology has developed and made it better for both people and the environment. With GPS, there will be straight lines on our fields. It is a helpful tool for our machine operators and the efficiency becomes higher. It is difficult to drive a vehicle for a whole day, with only 7 cm of variation with a 13 meter wide implement behind the tractor. But it can be done with GPS technology. You don't have to turn around and look back. GPS technology is also a boost in terms of environmental progress. Optimizing the working width of the implements using GPS technology reduces both working time and soil compaction.

TRACTORS

BACKHOE

HARVESTER

MANURE SPREADER

PloW

HarROW

PLANTER

GPS

Wapnö FOREST

We have approx. 550 ha of productive forest land, consisting of pine, spruce and deciduous trees. Spruce grows very well and the average quality is 9.7 m3sk per hectare. There is also a gravel pit on the woodland.

The annual growth in the forest produces paper pulp that provides approx. 9,000,000 milk cartons and timber for houses. If the entire annual growth in the forest were used for paper pulp, it would be enough for approx. 22,000,000 one-litre milk cartons. Wapnö has enough forest for all the paper used within the company. The forestry has been FCS certified since 2010.