food sovereignty, a strategic issue for Finland

In Finland, domestic products are enough to feed almost everyone in the country. However, it is located for the most part above the polar circle. It is dark there 24 hours a day for several months in winter, and cultivable terms are rare. As the land is not very fertile, Finland has specialized in a resistant cereal, oats, which grows from May to the end of August. “Oats are good for the long days we have in the summer. We have light even at night, so it grows all the time”, explains farmer Markus Eerola.

The country has become the world’s second largest exporter of oats. With the grains, it is possible to make bread, cakes or vegetable milk. For vegetables, it is impossible to do without greenhouses. Almost all farmers have them. They grow cauliflower, broccoli or red cabbage there, before putting them in the open field during the summer. Due to tensions in the gas and oil market, the bill for heating them has however swelled in recent months. The country is thinking about developing foods that consume less energy, thanks to innovation, by promoting vegetable proteins.