Farming for food in Finland has an impact on the wellbeing of the Baltic Sea. On the national level Leijona Catering is one of the biggest buyers of food with a daily volume of about 70 000 meals. It is important to us that the food we serve is as environmentally friendly as possible also from the Baltic Sea protection viewpoint.
”Baltic Sea food” in its purest form is, naturally, fish that originates from the Baltic Sea. Especially worthwhile is to increase the share of herring and roach in the diet as that efficiently reduces eutrophication-causing nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen from the sea. The same chemical elements are needed by algae to grow. Roach worsen the eutrophication also when seeking their food: they disturb the seabed and thus cause nutrients to be released into water.
For instance, each ton of Baltic herring used as food means 4 kilograms less eutrophication-causing phosphorus in the nutrient cycle of the sea. At Leijona Catering we serve approx. 15 000 kg of herring, in different dishes, which means a total of around 60 kg of phosphorus removed in a year. The impact of this on the notorious plight of the Baltic Sea, the blue-green algae, is a reduction of about 6000 buckets.
Activities in farming that improve the condition of the Baltic Sea can create synergies by also causing positive climate impacts. In 2021 we joined the Carbon Action platform where different actors in the food chain, coordinated by Baltic Sea Action Group (BSAG), collaborate to improve the carbon capture, productivity, and nutrient hold. To hold the nutrients in the topsoil of fields instead of escaping to waterways and, ultimately, ending in the sea is important sea protection work by all Baltic Sea states.