Karby Garden's perennial berry growing

Karby Trädgård through Margareta Goude in Gåvsta outside Uppsala was granted project support for the project to work towards a sustainable alternative for people to collect the annual need for healthy and tasty berries in a social and pleasant way and also provide fresh and frozen berries or processed products of the company's products. A well-established and well-managed perennial cultivation of the berry species that Karby Trädgård offers can, at the same time as increasing carbon storage, provide an increasing, sustainable production of healthy berries and fruits for decades.

In this project, the company Karby Trädgård will develop the farm to increase berry production in the perennial crop by keeping it ”weed-free”. The plan is to achieve this with the help of robotic lawnmowers and thereby save the environment, time and money about avoiding driving with alkylate gasoline-powered riding lawn mowers, which has been the case until now.
With a "weed-free" cultivation, the berry bushes avoid competition for nutrients and water, voles have worse conditions, kestrels can see their prey more easily and increasingly larger bushes also mean more flowers for bumblebees and bees, which are also part of the company's operations.
A significant consequence of increased berry production is that there will be enough income to hire staff for the continued development of the company.

The farm will also switch to drip irrigation, the best and most energy- and water-efficient irrigation method, to a greater extent. For a small-scale entrepreneur, drip irrigation is an effective way to save time and develop other parts of the company. Another advantage of having a buried drip hose is that minimized water consumption because of minimized evaporation which also entails minimal limescale deposits, an advantage considering Karby's calcareous water.

Motivation of the Board:

The project contributes to sustainable development, socially and ecologically at the specific location and locally but also beyond national borders through, for example, a collaboration with an entrepreneur in Ukraine. Biodiversity is also benefited by the company.

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