Alice Gimbro Frisk //
Food and eating is an integral part of everyday life, it is easy to overlook where the food comes from. Today large scale monocultures dominate production, and in countries such as Sweden there is a high dependency on imported goods. If “you are what you eat”, this doesn’t paint a very nice picture. But what if there is an alternative?
If you walk south along the beach of Lomma you will eventually end up at Alnarp’s Agroecology Farm. It was started in 2021 by students at SLU and has since become an NGO independent from the university. With 0.5 hectares of land the farm is very small for agriculture in the current food system, with an average around 50 hectares per farm. Still they grow up to 40 different crops, and serve around 100 households with fresh produce each season through their community supported agriculture (CSA). CSA is a model adapted by many small scale farmers which enables consumers and producers to get food- and economic security by a long term binding agreement. This usually entails that you pay upfront for a whole season, and then receive the produce deliveries throughout.
On a cold February Thursday I met Charly Hergert, treasurer and funding manager at Alnarps farm, for an interview at Smålands Nation. Charly came to Lund 2,5 years ago to study their masters. Before that they studied in Canada, where they met people at a community garden on campus and ended up volunteering at an on campus cafe that used vegetables from the farm. “I loved it so much, I felt like I needed something like this when I came to Sweden” they say enthusiastically. Only a few weeks after arriving in Lund they started volunteering at Alnarps through the recommendation of some classmates. “I think I had a similar experience to other people that come to the farm – it’s such a nice vibe, you feel ‘I want to be friends with these people, they’re cool!’.” In 2025 they joined the board and wrote their masters thesis about Alnarps farm. This is their second year on the board and they are also employed at the farm.
How is working and community building intertwined? How do you build a community through Alnarps farm?
“I think how we build community is through offering a space, literally, and sharing knowledge and providing something I think people don’t really find anywhere else – or that’s very difficult to find in our current society.” Charly addresses how in a capitalist society so much is centered around self improvement and performance, finding spaces such as this where you are allowed to learn through trial and error are rare. “I don’t have a farming background, most people that are at the farm don’t. But it’s so nice to feel ‘I’ve put my hands in the soil, I’ve planted some seedlings, and I see the results’. “
Doing work together is something that Charly finds very meaningful, even though the work often is exhausting and monotonous. Enthusiastically they tell me that “your brain and your hands start working together, and you connect with the people over the garden bed. You connect over what you do together and people start sharing their dreams and their visions, their issues and their personal struggles.”
This slow farming approach is integral to enabling a community to exist at all. “If we wanted to be efficient, there would be no community”.
The way you produce food is an alternative to monoculture and mass production of food. Is that something you are very consciously doing?
“Yes” they answer. Alnarps farm follows agroecological principles, such as diversity and resilience, and there is a big focus on soil health. This is a clear contrast and an alternative to the current industrial food production system. Charly also highlights that by not striving for efficiency and profit, and choosing actively to not exploit the land, Alnarps sets itself apart from the industrial setting. Instead they aim for regeneration of both soils and people, and growing together as a group. To provide food for the community is an important goal in itself.
Do you think it would be possible to do on a larger scale?
Charly laughs and says that people often ask if “this is the solution for everything now?”, “Then obviously no.” In their opinion it would be stupid to claim overnight that you have the perfect recipe for farming, and will change the whole system. Rather they see Alnarp’s role as being the force that pushes things forward, to be “the radical alternative, but at the same time showing that this is a replicable system.”
They point out that Alnarps farm is small, and that scaling up the farm itself is not the point. “I don’t think this is about making this a 50 hectare farm.” In Charly’s opinion that wouldn’t even be possible, since that would require machines – and therefore also a totally different set up. “What I love so much about the half hectare is that it’s at human scale, so it allows us to build connections with the people. Education is also much easier, because people really can do it by hand and understand and see how things affect each other.”
We agree there is a strong need for diversification in scale, and an increase of specialized small scale farms. However the current political system needs to be changed to facilitate this. The common agriculture policy (CAP) is the main EU framework for regulating farming, according to which Alnarps is too small to be considered a farm. Through giving out direct payments based on farmers acreage the CAP incentivizes big-scale farming. In Sweden you need at least 4 hectares to get any subsidies at all. “But since we are way below that, they don’t even look at us,” Charly says frustratedly. It is clear from their body language that this is an issue, especially since it makes it hard to find financing.
What are the main challenges of this kind of farming?
“I would say the general acknowledgement, both societal but also financially, is definitely a challenge. That we are just seen as ‘hobby farmers’, ‘you’re these young radical people – but that’s never gonna work’ or ‘you think you have the solution for everything’. It’s this kind of mentality that we get approached with.”
Charly tells me that there is great support “within the bubble”, for example one of their team members recently received the title “top 50 farmers within Europe”. However there is little support from the actual local community surrounding them. This goes both for local residents of Lomma, as well as the municipality. Charly says there is barely any structural or financial support, which creates difficulties for the farm.
Another issue is being able to get paid for your work. “Even as we are employed, in a way we still volunteer half of our time because we only get paid for half of our time.” There is a sense of disillusionment in Charly’s voice, and they tell me how it is difficult to create secure livelihoods in a system that does not support this kind of work. “For me it always feels like we are running against the wall on a daily basis. It’s just so exhausting. And it’s so sad, because people are so invested, but you can’t live off love and happiness and air and veggies.”
Gender division of work is another problem. Farming is care work, for people and land, and like so often in society unpaid care work often falls on FLINTA people. This goes for both the board and among those who volunteer. Charly sighs, “even within these radical alternative spaces you face the same struggles, and challenges.”
What problems do you see with the current food production system?
Without hesitation Charly answers that the main issue is that this system is built on extraction and exploitation of land and people. “It is not sustainable and it does not address or solve any of the social and other global environmental issues we have in the world.” The continuous focus on growth only leads to further exploitation. They sigh deeply, “ That’s not gonna get us anywhere.”
Charly is hesitant to claim that local always is better, but stresses that in the current political landscape it’s barely considered at all. “Why is industrial large scale agriculture the only legitimate way apparently of farming?”. They tell me that Alnarp’s method of farming does not need to be the solution, but it needs to be at least another legitimate way.
However, they still find it frustrating that agriculture often is viewed as “the problem maker”, even in the sustainability discourse. “At Alnarps farm we are trying to show that agriculture is part of the solution, and that it can have such a positive impact – not only on people and biodiversity, but also through lower emissions.”
How will you work to continue challenging this system?
“I don’t know any other way than just to keep going with what we are doing, and be loud and proud about what we do.” Apart from the farm work Alnarps also does this by taking part in political advocacy (nationally and in Europe), conducting research, and participating in research projects.
WANT TO GET INVOLVED?Follow @alnarpsfarm on instagram
Learn more about CSAs in Sweden at andelsjordbruk.se. |