Timothy – the saviour of Icelandic agriculture?
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| Höfundur | Útgefandi | Útgáfuár | Útgáfustaður |
| Áslaug Helgadóttir, Þóroddur Sveinsson | LbhÍ | 2006 | Reykjavík |
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| Rit | Árgangur | Tölublað | Bls. |
| Ráðstefnurit | | | 14 |
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Introduction
Timothy (Phleum pratense L.) is the most important forage grass in Icelandic agriculture. No other species matches it when we simultaneously look at such factors as yield ability, feed quality, palatability and persistence (e.g. Sveinsson 2001). Timothy is a naturalized species in Iceland (Stefánsson 1948) and its distribution is mostly limited to cultivated pastures, roadsides and residential areas. Even though timothy was first included in agricultural experiments already in 1898 (Friðriksson, 1956), it wasn’t exploited in agriculture until much later, as winter hardy and persistent cultivars were lacking. The cultivars Grindstad (from Norway) and Øtofte (from Denmark) were first imported in 1955 (Óskarsson, unpublished data) but they showed poor winter survival and soon disappeared from the market. It wasn’t until Engmo from Troms in Norway arrived on the scene in 1962 and later the two Icelandic cultivars, Korpa (in 1970) and Adda (in 1982), that farmers began to enjoy the benefits of timothy. Since then it has steadily grown in popularity and now completely dominates the forage seed market. In this paper we will attempt to shed light on the role that timothy has played in the development of agricultural production in the country over the years. We will speculate whether recent advances in milk production can be contributed to its presence in the feed production system. In our speculations we will make use of the statistics collected through the centralized milk recording system by the Farmers Association and Agricultural Authority of Iceland. However, it is important to point out that these statistics are not altogether comparable and therefore our findings will only be indicative rather than conclusive. We will also look briefly at novel uses of timothy in modern multifunctional agriculture. |