Day in the life on Bornholm

 

Citizen Committees

We started our day in one of the nearby towns. Jurgen, our speaker, has a background in public transportation systems. He was quite proud of working with both the public bus and school bus systems on the island. By changing school starting times, he managed coordinate these two systems, so that he increased the ridership by 70% and the bus system became profitable.

Historically. Bornholm’s economy was primarily fishing. But fishing has declined with overfishing combined with more pollution from fertilizer. Meanwhile world trade has flourished with large container ships reducing the cost of transporting goods. Thus producers need to efficiently produce large quantities of high quality goods, usually requiring the producer to be in a large city. But large cities also have a high cost of living. What do you do in a rural area like Bornholm?

Today, it only takes about 100 farmers to produce the same crops that use to take 5000 farmers on this island.  Our citizen committee decided to concentrate on local food and handicrafts to support tourism with the initial funding coming from the EU. We are seeing success. The island has recently won a Michelin star restaurant and a world prize in crafts.

Nelson, Miya, and Fred at the organic farm

Organic Farm

We then went to Hammersley organic farm. Our hosts, Nelson, Miya, and Fred all had advanced degrees in agronomy. This is their third season running the farm. They rent the land from a firm whose purpose is to encourage organic farming. Many of the 150 shareholders also volunteer at the farm. The farm operates as a CSA, community supported agriculture, with 65 customers who pay up front for a share of the crop. Currently, the farm produces about 50 varieties of vegetables (including 7 types of tomatoes) on their 20 acres. They are growing new unfamiliar vegetables, so they give their customers recipes for them. They are also selling to 10 local restaurants.  In addition, they are renting part of the land for wine grapes and an orchard. Next year, they will be growing mushrooms. 

Vegetable rows 

We had lunch of salad and an open face sandwich of breaded fish. We spent the afternoon in the village of Gudhjem.

The Village of Gudhjem