Natural grasslands are the most endangered habitat in our country” - Viesturs Lārmanis
In Latvia, as everywhere, intensive agriculture has transformed natural meadows and grasslands, including pastures with low intensity grazing, to drained arable land with monoculture agriculture, resulting in habitat loss and species extinction. In parallel, the lack of grazing, together with rural depopulation and land abandonment, has left agricultural land and pastures of less economic value being overgrown with trees, and this also defines the Latvian landscape.
Bekas is a family farm, demonstration site and learning centre for grassland restoration in northern Latvia. The farm is partly located in the Ziemeļgauja nature reserve, one of the country’s most species rich Natura 2000 areas. The landscape here is shaped by the Gauja River which floods annually and erodes the sandbanks, meandering through grasslands with pine forests.
On the farm’s 120 hectares, there are 11 types of woodland meadows, pastures and dry grasslands on calcareous soils; forests and aquatic biotopes in process of, or to be restored based on the EU habitats directive and Latvian regulations.
The farm’s owners, Ines Gmizo-Lārmane and Viesturs Lārmanis have worked with nature conservation for over twenty years. In 2016, they moved to the family farm.
With the grazing of about 60 Scottish highland cattle, removal of trees and bushes, milling of stumps, sowing of semi-natural meadow plants, and mowing of varied intensity, they have successfully restored overgrown oak meadows, improving vegetation and species composition from forest vegetation to biologically highly valuable grassland vegetation, according to data gathered in collaboration with researchers from the University of Latvia (GrassLIFE).
The Bekas farm hosts more than 50 protected and endangered species of plants, animals and fungi, such as the Orchis mascula orchid and the beetle Osmoderma barnabita, the most symbolic of the endangered species that characterize wooded meadows, requiring decaying wood in a network of veteran, hollow oaks, to provide suitable habitats and maintain viable populations.
According to Viesturs, the meadows here, created in the days of pre-industrial agriculture are an important example of how agriculture can have a positive effect on biodiversity. The grazing and mowing that is now used to manage these meadows he refers to as “biodiversity farming”. “Our Scottish highland cattle eat more than at least 200 different species of plants in their daily diet, so the meat that we produce is unique in terms of its origin”.
The fact that the restoration measurements also included the removal of a beaver dam, sparked the group’s curiosity and resulted in discussions, on the Swedish side, about the coexistence of agroforestry and rewilding. In Latvia the beaver population is considered to be too big (maybe explaining why we were treated to beaver meat at the end of the week) and to cause significant problems, such as flooding and damage to trees. At Bekas they are seen as a threat to the rare oak habitats and to migrating fish. But, as beavers are famous key species, playing a crucial role to their ecosystem, we assume this solution is also due to the beavers negatively influencing the water dynamics, hindering access to valuable pastures.
Historically, inundation, waterlogging, uneven terrain and extremely dry areas made this site unsuitable for industrial agriculture.
Still today, sandy soils and regular inundation and droughts contribute to the fact that there isn’t enough land to feed the 60 Scottish highland cattle. The ancestors living from the land kept a lower number of cattle. To complement, the ruminants get hay with a rich meadow flora from other farms, making them become natural seed spreaders.
Since Viesturs, when asked, dismissed the idea of assisted migration of nut trees in natural tree meadows, we didn’t have a desired dialogue about the merge of nature restoration and agroforestry, or about the importance of tree fodder (potentially from the same nut threes), to feed animals within the system, in case of too wet or too dry summers affecting the pastures.
Meat, honey, strawberries, wild berry jam, nature tourism for families and seminars: the family farm is exploring ways to finance its continued activities.
According to Viesturs, the meadows here, created in the days of pre-industrial agriculture are an important example of how agriculture can have a positive effect on biodiversity. The grazing and mowing that is now used to manage these meadows he refers to as “biodiversity farming”. “Our Scottish highland cattle eat more than at least 200 different species of plants in their daily diet, so the meat that we produce is unique in terms of its origin”.
The fact that the restoration measurements also included the removal of a beaver dam, sparked the group’s curiosity and resulted in discussions, on the Swedish side, about the coexistence of agroforestry and rewilding. In Latvia the beaver population is considered to be too big (maybe explaining why we were treated to beaver meat at the end of the week) and to cause significant problems, such as flooding and damage to trees. At Bekas they are seen as a threat to the rare oak habitats and to migrating fish. But, as beavers are famous key species, playing a crucial role to their ecosystem, we assume this solution is also due to the beavers negatively influencing the water dynamics, hindering access to valuable pastures.
Historically, inundation, waterlogging, uneven terrain and extremely dry areas made this site unsuitable for industrial agriculture.
Still today, sandy soils and regular inundation and droughts contribute to the fact that there isn’t enough land to feed the 60 Scottish highland cattle. The ancestors living from the land kept a lower number of cattle. To complement, the ruminants get hay with a rich meadow flora from other farms, making them become natural seed spreaders.
Since Viesturs, when asked, dismissed the idea of assisted migration of nut trees in natural tree meadows, we didn’t have a desired dialogue about the merge of nature restoration and agroforestry, or about the importance of tree fodder (potentially from the same nut threes), to feed animals within the system, in case of too wet or too dry summers affecting the pastures.
Meat, honey, strawberries, wild berry jam, nature tourism for families and seminars: the family farm is exploring ways to finance its continued activities.