In the summer of 2018, farmers around the country saw their crops dry out. But while a majority of the modern varieties showed large harvest losses, older grain varieties fared much better, according to a pilot study from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU).
Many so-called cultural varieties have been competed with by modern, high-yielding cereal varieties. But in Norrtälje, work is underway to preserve varieties such as Roslag's black oats and Lantvete from Uppsala and pass them on to local farmers.
- We are trying to find out if it is possible to grow older varieties of grain, especially in forest areas, where much of the agriculture has fallen asleep, says Tobias Nilsson at Norrtälje Nature Center who leads the project.
Great demand among bakers
In addition to coping better with drought, many older varieties of bakeries are in demand, something that can make it profitable for farmers to grow them despite lower yields.
- The flavors are often very interesting for bakers, so there are good prospects to start growing these varieties on a larger scale, says Tobias Nilsson.
SVT followed when the harvest was salvaged using old methods.