Mr. Brunell’s Farm

“Our production center was relocated to its current location 64 years ago when Kronos first expanded its factory. The plot of Kronos next to the Kruunupyy River became too small for a factory producing shovel rolls and our farm. My parents were constantly expanding the area and milk production. In 1995, we made a generational change and continued to develop the farm with my wife Nina. The main industries of the farm were milk production, final breeding of own bulls and contracting until 2015.

In contracting, we have always cooperated with Maskinring Peny (Machine Ring Peny). I still remember the “first gig” to the neighboring municipality with model year -71 David Brown and Bögballe fertiliser spreader. Later, we set up separate machinery companies, one for threshing and the other for silage harvesting. In addition, there are several co-owned machines. A lot of machinery work is bought in the area between different premises and rental machines are also popular. This saves costs and the collaboration is also rewarding socially.

The biggest change in production came when milk production would have required a new barn and over the years, I became more sensitive to farm dust. Cultivation and some contracting remained, but the dairy cattle got new homes. My wife continued as a nurse and I moved into the construction industry. I was drilling heat and water wells and had been also teaching at agricultural school for a year. However, 4 years ago as an “old dairy farmer” I got the dream job from Snellman Meat Processing, as a field person at company’s cattle team.

Currently the farm has 60 hectares of organic farmed arable land. Cultivation includes silage grass, barley, wheat and peas. Last spring we sowed different small seed species and mixtures and we can monitor their differences in the 2021 growing season.

The farms fields are fairly flat and well suited for cultivation experiments. I’ve tested e.g. different types of mowing with good success. Clover, dry manure and the digestate waste of Jepuan Biokaasu Oy bring growth to the organic field. As a field person in Snellman, I am interested in developing resource-wise agriculture alongside paid work, which in the future will take Finnish food production forward.
We have always stored the grass covered in a flat silo. In fact, I made the silage since 1986. We use reel shredder, precision shredder, shredder trailers and self-loading wagon and preservatives different kind of acids. We have been selling silage to other producers for 20 years and today we sell everything as quality feed to different cattle farms.

There is no shortcut to top feed. The work begins with the precise cultivation of a field in good condition and only ends when the feed store is covered and protected from pests.”