Who we are
Móðir Jörð is Icelandic premium organic food. We grow grain and vegetables which are key ingredients in our food line consisting of healthy and delicious barley, crackers, chutneys and lactofermented vegetables. Our home is the Vallanes farm in east Iceland.
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Organic farming in Vallanes
Móðir Jörð specializes in growing grain, organic barley in particular. Barley has played a part in Icelandic culinary history ever since Iceland’s settlement in the 9th century. For a few centuries it was forgotten in Iceland, but it has recently started to make its way into Icelandic contemporary cuisine. Móðir Jörð – Vallanes is known for its pioneering role in Iceland in re-introducing barley for human consumption when Eymundur Magnússon started organic farming in 1985. Together with his wife, Eygló Björk Ólafsdóttir, they focus on growing grains and vegetables, and on producing specialty food products made from local, Icelandic ingredients.
Where we are.
Móðir Jörð is situated on a farm called Vallanes in beautiful east Iceland, near a glacial lake, midway between Egilsstaðir and Hallormsstaður. This area is known for its forests and relatively mild climate. The fields around Vallanes have been shaped by the planting of over 1,000,000 trees, some of which make shelterbelts that protect the growing crops.
What we produce.
Everything grown and/or produced in Vallanes is certified organic by the certification office TUN in Iceland. The product categories are the following:
- Barley – (hulled barley, pearl barley, barley flour, barley flakes)
- Fresh vegetables (80-100 varieties such as potatoes, root vegetables, herbs, lettuce, cabbage, flowers etc.).
- Vegetarian burgers – suitable for vegans
- Sweet pickled vegetables or chutneys, Brilliant Beetroot, Golden Turnip and Fennel delight
- Jams, blueberry, black currant and rhubarb
- Fermented vegetables
- Dried local herbs, teas
- Breakfast barley porridge, pancake mix and breadmix.
- Crispbread with barley and wholewheat, flavoured with Icelandic herbs such as angelica
- Rapeseed oil
- Massage oils made from local, Icelandic wild herbs: Oil of Life, Oil Betula and Oil Geranium, all in 100ml bottles.
Visit the farm
The farm is open for visits from May through September for visits. Farm shop is open from Monday – Saturday from 9-18. B&B accomodation is available.
Organic quality at 66°N.
Research has shown that vegetables grown in cooler climates express a higher concentration of nutrition such as vitamins and minerals, than when grown under more favourable conditions. The slow, concentrated growth of the plants, grown organically, makes them full of flavour and energy.
Vision.
Móðir Jörð is striving to promote healthy lifestyles and organic farming and food production in Iceland and beyond.
Awards and recognitions:
2004 – Eymundur Magnússon – Iceland’s Agriculture award – for the use of Agroecology and forestry in farming
2011 – Eymundur Magnússon – The Order of the Falcon – the Knight’s Cross – given by the President of Iceland
2012 – Eymundur Magnússon – Nomination for the Nordic Council Nature and Environment Prize For his organic farm and planting shelterbelts with local varieties of trees which form the starting point for ecological systems where other plants thrive for 25 years. He has also provided human diversity: young volunteers from the WWOOF organisation have worked with him every year and created an international community that is loyal to the earth and learns respect for their surroundings.
2015 – Móðir Jörð – “Fjöreggið” food award – given by the Food and nutrition society of Iceland and the Federation of Icelandic industries
2018 – Eymundur Magnússon, “Premio Langhe Cerretto” award given by the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy and the Cerretto winery in Langhe, Piedmont. For planting forrest and shelterbelts and created feasible conditions for growing food in the Vallanes farm and with his work, contributed significantly towards sustainability in agriculture, protecting the environment and biodiversity.
