Family: Poaceae
Genus: Avena
Type species: Avena sativa

Oat is easy to recognize! It does not form a concentrated ear but rather looks like a small tree with grains hanging from the end of the branches. The cultivation of oat exploded in the Middle Ages. It is mainly used for fodder. Horses in particular love to eat oat. Humans also consume it, in the form of flakes or in drinks, often combined with soybeans.

The oats sown at EKKM come from Marys' farm in Hiiumaa. (fig. 1 - fig. 3)

THE LAND

During my visit at Marys’ farm, we were able to discuss another aspect of the crop which is the soil.
Without soil, it is not possible to sow seeds. The access for farmers to arable land, everywhere in the world, has become more and more complicated. (fig. 4)

Gisèle: What is your relationship with the land? How did you get access to this land here?

Marys: I grew up on a farm in the countryside (Saaremaa) and studied at the Estonian University of Life Sciences. The family kept a small dairy herd and also raised grain for their own needs, and hay and other necessary work was done. Likewise, my husband, who spent all his childhood free time here in Hiiumaa on his grandparents' farm, has been helping since childhood, as much as possible. 100 head of dairy cattle, pigs, previously nutria and other animals were kept, but in about 2005 they stopped farming.

Land, as a tool of production but also as a symbolic and emotional space - to be surveyed, mapped, probed - is constitutive of my work.

The desire to work around the theme of my family's land has become a need, if not a necessity - especially since I live abroad. In order to keep a link with the fields that I know so well physically, working with their cadastral plans appeared as a way to reappropriate them, from a distance, to see them from another point of view, in 2-dimensional representation.

Closely studying cadastral plans is not only an alternative approach to the fields I am familiar with but also addresses the management of agricultural land in general as well as how they are divided and rationalized. (fig. 5 - fig. 7)

THE CADASTRE

A cadastre is a comprehensive recording of the real estate. This document speaks more about a surface than delimitations. In most countries, the administrative systems use the cadastre to define the dimensions and location of land parcels described in legal documentation. They were originally used to ensure reliable facts for land valuation and taxation. The cadastre is a fundamental source of data in disputes and lawsuits between landowners.

I have been interested in the issues of access to arable land for several years. In Berlin where I've been living, it’s possible to find local and organic products. But if we look closely, most of the time the products are from industrial agriculture belonging to big furniture manufacturers chain stores, industrial waste management empires which made organic agriculture because it’s a promising market. (source)

There is also a structural reason for that situation.

LAND GRABBING

The region of Brandenburg was part of the GDR. After the fall of the Soviet system, a process of restitution/distribution/sale of state property was set up, first by an organization called the Treuhand and then by the BVVG (Bodenverwertungs und verwaltungs GmbH).

The former collective farms of the GDR have left very large domains in a number of hectares. This structural phenomenon favors today the large private groups being the only ones able to bear the prices now demanded - at the end of tenders where the highest bidder wins, leaving almost no chance to the small farmers.

German law only allows the sale of agricultural land to farmers. But it does not prevent anyone from taking over farms. Investors acquire huge farms and then employ farmers as employees. As farms are taken over, so is the land. (fig. 8)

Back to Estonia with Marys from Hiiu Jähu:
Gisèle: Is it difficult to get arable land when you want to become a farmer in Estonia?

Marys*: Getting started is probably very difficult. If, for example, a person wants to grow something for their own use, then probably a few hectares of it can still be leased from someone, but it is difficult to start a farm. 200 ha of land does not float anywhere so that no one does anything about it. And if there are big investors behind or reluctant to take the money, then probably everything can be done. Rather, a young beginner does not have such amounts.
We started in the footsteps of of Even´s grandparents. They had stopped active farming themselves, but had not rented out or sold their family lands and a large collective farm barn to anyone. We started on about 100 hectares of old dairy cattle barn, which we offered, and built this circle as a free-range cattle barn for beef cattle. There are now a few more countries, and a few years ago we switched completely to cereals, because the beef market fell sharply due to the corona crisis. (fig. 9)

SOLIDARITY SAVINGS

To face the situation of Land Grabbing and artificialization of land* researchers and citizens are exploring forms of governance that are more concerned with the preservation of resources. Movement as Terre de liens in France or Okanauten in Germany has been putting into practice the idea of a "common land ". To slow down the disappearance of agricultural land, it proposes that citizens participate in the purchase of farms through a solidarity savings and investment tool whose accumulated capital makes it possible to buy back land.

*The artificialisation of land corresponds to a need to quantify the loss of available surfaces for agricultural use from land use change. It refers to the overall decrease in the share of land allocated to agricultural and forestry activities, or natural areas, thus taking non-agricultural dimensions into account. The artificialisation of land, which generates a loss of land resources for agricultural use and for natural areas, is considered to be one of the main causes of biodiversity loss. (fig. 10 - fig. 11)

Against the Grain, 2022 -
In-situ installation, EKKM, Tallinn

Surface approx. 60 m², 35 tons of topsoil
Field sown with twelve types of bread cereals from wheat, rye, oats, barley, lentil, chickpea, certified and farmer (heirloom) seeds from Estonia, Lithuania and France

Project by Gisèle Gonon
Graphic Design by Robin Siimann

Go to the next seed to get more infos :)