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Agricultural education for 100 years

On 5th November 1923, the first students entered the doors of the smallholding school at Blæstad. In 2023, it is a vibrant and forward-looking campus that welcomes you to its celebration.

Blæstad campus is beautifully situated in Innlandet County, ten kilometres from Hamar.

This is Elisabeth Egelid, Mari Reiten and Micael Wendell. They all have different connections to the celebrant. We will return to this later.

The 100th anniversary not only marks a proud history, but also an era of forward-looking research and innovation that aims to help shape the agricultural sector and our entire planet.

With increased awareness of sustainability, the environment and climate challenges, the agricultural sector is more relevant than ever, and the Department of Agricultural Sciences is more central than ever before.

It is with pride and humility that I look back on 100 years of agricultural education, while eagerly anticipating the next 100 years.

Micael Wendell, Head of the Department of Agricultural Sciences, Blæstad

Historical aerial photo of Blæstad farm in black and white.

Blæstad is first mentioned in written sources in 1520, but it was cleared during the Viking Age – possibly as early as the year 1000 AD.

When the smallholding school was established in 1923, the main building was significantly rebuilt to serve as an educational facility.

The white main building at Blæstad in the autumn sun.

Today, we find classrooms, laboratories, workshops and offices in all the buildings on the splendid farm.

Blæstad has 200 decares of cultivated land where students can put into practice what they learn in the classrooms.

Mari Reiten is an associate arofessor and teaches livestock. She has a particular professional interest in livestock keeping, perhaps primarily cattle.

Mari holds a PhD with a research focus on calves from Aarhus University.

Hesam Mousavi is a PhD candidate in the programme Applied Ecology and Biotechnology.

The main focus of his doctoral project is to investigate the effects of different fertilisation regimes on crops. In other Words soil health; for example, biochemical functions and biota.

In addition, Hesam aims to enhance sustainability/stability in food production and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector.

Anna Beata Seniczak is a professor at Blæstad.

She researches very small animals; mites that live in the soil and serve as excellent bioindicators of soil health.

Mites are on average only 0.5 millimeters long, but live in great diversity (there are many thousands of mites, of several different species, per square meter of soil). They play a crucial role in soil decomposition, organic matter and nutrient cycling in the soil.

The most common method to collect mites is by extraction from soil samples using a light bulb. The bulb heats up the soil, causing the animals to move away and downwards, out of the soil. The extraction of the animals takes about a week. Afterwards, they can be studied under a microscope.

I felt the need to change a hectic career in the grocery industry. When I finish at Blæstad, I feel that the future lies open before me and that I have many options.

Elisabeth Egelid, 31 years old, from Kongsberg. She is studying agronomy.

Details from the ceiling and lamp in the banquet hall.

The facilities at Blæstad accommodate teaching and research. The farm's history spans over 1000 years. The current structures present an authentic farm environment where the buildings have been repurposed and adapted.

With one exception: the banquet hall in the main house remains intact when it is used for celebrations at the end of October 2023.

From the 1750s storehouse, the farm bell will call people to gather at Blæstad when the new courtyard tree is planted during Blæstad Day 2023.

Those attending include students and researchers, as well as representatives from the entire agricultural industry gathered at the Blæstad agricultural centre in a new building that completes the farmyard.

In the old barn, there is a cafeteria and classrooms.

In the workshop buildings, students in agricultural engineering gather among machines and tools.

re you interested in more of the history? Then you can read the pages authored by Professor Fred Håkon Johnsen. In addition to teaching and research, he also writes about the history of Blæstad —from its clearing in the Viking Age to today's educational programmes.

Returning to the department head. He is clear about the future vision of the education he is a part of:

Together with our fantastic students and researchers, I aim to create a department where agricultural education meets innovative research and innovation. It is the choices we make today that shape a green, secure and more sustainable future for all of us — because we have only one Earth.

Micael Wendell

Department of Agricultural Sciences