Book Review: Agricultural History of NLH

TUNTREET

THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY OF THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE

Pauline Marie Søndenå Translator

Tord Kristian F. Andersen Journalist

Just before Christmas Tuntreet was lucky enough to receive a brand new edition of “Gårdsbruket ved Norges landbrukshøgskole”, by the writer himself, Erling A. Tveit. As the history lover I am, I’ve had a quick look through the book to pick out a few relevant and interesting stories from the time our university was an agricultural college. From industrial revolution to agricultural college

The book starts from the beginning, starting with the industrial revolution and the agricultural colleges established around the world and in Norway. The big question was how to further educate farmers; would seminars centrally or in the districts be a better choice? They finally decided to establish a new college, one of the reasons being how they could not It was decided that a new college was to be/ should be established. This was justified, among other things, by the fact that an affiliation with the university could not allow practice. The choice fell on Ås Rectory due to its position, area, climate and soil. However, the purchase of the neighboring farm Vollebekk led to some drama.

At one point the plan was to have a veterinary education in addition to agriculture. This may seem somewhat ironic in retrospect, but we now have over 150 years of hindsight they did not have at that time. In the end the school ended up with subjects such as agriculture, forestry and horticulture, geology, chemistry and surveying. In many ways, this forms the core of NMBU like we know it today. “Den høiere landbrugsskole paa Aas” was established in 1859. In 1897 the school was given status as a scientific college, with the five departments agriculture, horticulture, forestry, dairy farming and land change.

Changing practice

It’s interesting to look at how the agriculture changed with the conditions. We got a different shift plan, fertilization and feeding were improved and diseases were fought. This happened through experimenting, and shows that the school worked towards improving and develop itself from day one. It wasn’t enough to just learn the techniques that worked. You also had to improve them. The war also contributed to the history, like when horses were requisitioned by German occupation forces.

The 150 years have also been affected by new buildings, demolitions, fires, reconstructions an expansion.

A picture book for adults

This is clearly a book with a lot of text, but what really brings me back in time, are all the old pictures, drawings and portraits. The chapter on tools and machines is especially interesting, showing devices I have never seen before, and its history and how they were used.

Plants and agriculture

Even though this book covers a lot of the school’s history, it is (as the title states) a book about agriculture and agricultural

politics. And I have learned a lot. Now I know things about bracking, drainage and manage. Semen is an okay word to use about grain, cattle have pretty awesome names and Chernobyl plays a part affecting the goat’s milk. Weeds have also been a problem. No wonder why chemistry is such a big subject here, considering all the herbicides being used.

NHL as an organization

When we hear about the school’s past it is often in an educational context and how we have ended up where we are today. In the book turns this around, and I understand that money has always been an important factor. The questions are often about where to build, how many experiments you should have, how many employees you should hire, what kind of assignments they should get and how much you should pay them.

Something that also brings me back in time is that all purchases that were made in the beginning are listed in specials. Suddenly NMBU feels 1000 years older. This changed, of course, when the Scandinavian currency changed to “kroner” and “øre”.

The book’s 382 pages contains, of course, a lot more details about all of this. Nevertheless, this is some of the most concise literature I’ve read about NMBU’s development towards today. This book will for certain get a permanent place in Tuntreet’s bookshelf as an encyclopedia, and is recommended for anyone who is interested in NMBU or agriculture.

Photo from book; Villmoe fertilizerspreader. This simplified driving and allowed even spread. Photo: NMBU