For more than a decade, Aigars and Dace Meldere have been running a beef cattle farm in Rumbas Parish, Kuldīga Municipality. This year, they received the farmers’ “Oscar” – the “Sējējs” award – as Latvia’s best organic farm.
For many people, organic farming may evoke images of horse-drawn transport, green fingers, and ancestral rituals for cultivating the land and calling for good weather. The reality is quite different. “Kolumbi”, a purebred beef cattle farm in Kuldīga Municipality, is a modern enterprise based on current scientific knowledge, with its fields cultivated using the latest agricultural machinery. Aigars and Dace, together with their team, manage around 600 hectares of organically certified land and a herd of more than 520 cattle. The farm has developed a vertically integrated system combining home-grown feed, pastures, modern livestock facilities, a certified slaughterhouse, meat processing and direct sales. The company employs 35 people, and its turnover reached almost €7 million in 2025. Their recent success in the Ministry of Agriculture’s “Sējējs” competition, where they became laureates in the “Organic Farm” category, is a natural recognition of years of work introducing precision technologies and challenging stereotypes about organic farming.
From a Slaughterhouse to Cattle Farming
The journey to the scale the farm has reached today began 30 years ago, when Aigars established a meat business consisting of a small shop and slaughterhouse. As time passed and the farm acquired its first hectares of agricultural land, a logical question arose: why not ensure a supply of quality cattle for their own slaughterhouse?
The turning point came in 2012, when the farm imported its first ten pregnant Charolais heifers and one breeding bull. The first experience required enormous effort. Calving and monitoring the herd in a pasture during a rainy autumn made it clear that without proper livestock facilities and operations on a larger scale, the business would not be profitable. The farm grew rapidly, attracting European Union funding to develop livestock facilities, grain silos, a grain dryer and its machinery base. By 2017, the herd already included 150 suckler cows imported from Germany and Sweden. Initially, the Melderes raised purebred animals for breeding purposes for other farmers, but they soon turned to steak production, introducing the Angus breed. In 2019, they became the first in Latvia to add Japanese Wagyu cattle to their herd.
Dace, who completed a master’s degree in business management in Liepāja and later obtained a master’s degree in animal husbandry at the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies in Jelgava, emphasises the farm’s focused approach:
“As we developed the steak business, we also invested in processing so that we could work more efficiently, productively and to a higher standard of quality. Our goal is not to become bigger in terms of hectares or to raise enormous numbers of animals, but to achieve the highest possible quality.”
Aigars Melderis believes that having their own processing facilities is what gives this farming model its purpose and profitability.
“If we didn’t have our own slaughterhouse and processing facilities, we wouldn’t do this. We would operate like many other farms that raise calves only until weaning age – around seven months – without investing much in feed production or finishing, and simply send them to auction houses for export instead of producing meat ourselves and creating added value here. I simply need to keep the slaughterhouse operating, and the greatest added value is created when we slaughter and process our own animals. There is a lot of competition when buying and selling cattle, the raw material becomes very expensive, and the profit margin left in processing is extremely small.”
The Organic Choice
Organic farming was not a spur-of-the-moment decision, but a natural continuation of the family’s everyday choices. The farmers wanted to produce a clean product whose journey from field to plate could be fully traced. At “Kolumbi”, however, the organic approach is not set against science – quite the opposite. Everyday operations are based on precision farming methods.
In cooperation with the Latvian Rural Advisory and Training Centre (LLKC), soil and feed analyses are carried out regularly to ensure that the animals’ feed ration is balanced for rapid weight gain and that the land receives exactly the amount of nutrients it needs. Modern monitoring systems are used in the herd to calculate the optimal time for insemination and achieve pregnancy rates of up to 98% in the first cycle.
The organic meat produced and matured steaks are sold in the farm’s own shop in Kuldīga, through direct deliveries organised via social media and messaging-app groups, at the “Stockmann” department store and in leading burger restaurants in the capital.
Dace Meldere does not hide her concerns about local market habits and consumer culture:
“We produce too little here and import far too much from abroad. Everyone talks about the need to consume products grown in Latvia, but we don’t really know how to do that, let alone when it comes to organic food. Of course, the Rural Advisory Centre and the Latvian Association of Organic Agriculture are doing a lot of work and educating the public, but in recent school procurement tenders, products of local origin accounted for only 27%. That is sad. What are we fighting for if we still don’t have a culture of consuming our own products?”
Speaking about the fragmentation of the sector and shortcomings in state regulation, Aigars Melderis is critical:
“The biggest problem is that Latvia has too many small processors, both in the dairy and meat sectors. We would have more than enough with one or two dairy processing plants and a couple of slaughterhouses. The requirements have been so low that a small slaughterhouse could practically be set up at the end of any farm. Now all these small businesses are competing for every customer, struggling and barely surviving because they don’t have sufficient volumes. But the logic is simple – the smaller the production volume, the higher the price of the final product.”
Sharing – and Reluctance to Share – Experience and Knowledge
For more than nine years, “Kolumbi” has operated as a demonstration farm, organising seminars and welcoming researchers, students, farmers and schoolchildren. However, the farmers’ experience shows that openness in Latvia’s countryside still comes up against deep-rooted isolation and suspicion.
While the grain-growing sector, through organisations such as the “Zemnieku saeima”, and the dairy sector, through the association of Holstein breeders, have managed to establish a common sectoral position, the beef cattle sector still lacks a shared vision and the ability to agree on common standards.
Dace Meldere speaks openly about this mental barrier:
“It is just like in politics – everyone pulls the blanket towards themselves because we simply don’t trust people. Instead of admitting our own mistakes, it is easier to blame and discredit others, especially when someone is doing better. Envy and resentment hold us back. Unfortunately, my experience shows that the more open I am, the more I share my joys, sorrows and knowledge about what is right and what is not, the more backlash and mud I receive in return.”
The farmer is convinced that growth is possible only if personal ambitions are put aside.
“Many people don’t want to understand that the Soviet-era principle of everyone thinking only about themselves no longer works. Everyone wants to be extremely important, and that is our biggest problem. The future of our agriculture lies entirely in cooperation and cooperatives. We are a small country, so farmers need to come together, reach agreements and cooperate if we are to be competitive overall.”
The Green Transition
While EU environmental requirements and the green transition cause concern among some farmers, at “Kolumbi” they have been accepted as a natural way of farming from the very beginning. For the third year, the farm has been participating in an eco-footprint research project in cooperation with LBTU Professor Diāna Ruska and researcher Inga Muižniece, recording the lowest greenhouse gas emissions among all participants in the study.
All solutions at the farm are designed to ensure that its operations place as little unnecessary burden on the environment as possible. Special covers were installed on manure storage facilities in advance to prevent emissions from being released into the air. Slurry is incorporated directly into the soil using injection discs, while solar panels cover the electricity consumption of the production facilities and slaughterhouse.
At the same time, the farmers encounter a paradoxical reaction in the countryside: organic farming and the use of manure can sometimes cause greater dissatisfaction among neighbours than the cultivation of fields using mineral fertilisers and pesticides.
“Most of our land is owned by us, but when someone offers land for rent, we often hear refusals – they say they would rather not give it to these people because they will spread manure and make a smell, and would rather lease it to those who farm conventionally, use mineral fertilisers and chemicals. But then people have to decide where they want to live – in the countryside or in the city. In our parish, we are the only ones who fully fertilise and cultivate the fields, so everyone has us under a microscope,” Aigars says, describing the attitude of local residents.
Dace, meanwhile, emphasises the connection between economic logic and responsibility:
“If a person understands that they must not be a polluter, either at home or in nature, then they should do everything possible to farm cleanly. These requirements have never frightened me. For an organic farmer with cattle, it is actually easier than for conventional grain growers, who have to strictly comply with all buffer zones. The key is knowing how to use the resources already available efficiently, reduce costs and think long term.”
The farmer also openly acknowledges that targeted investments have allowed the farm to become financially independent.
“We direct all the subsidies we receive towards development – we buy land and invest in animals and high-quality genetics. This money is genuinely invested in production. If subsidies were ever abolished, we would not disappear, because the company’s performance shows that we are capable of earning enough and surviving on our own. That has been my goal from the very beginning because, let’s be honest, support payments at this level will not last forever.”
Employees as the Greatest Asset
A stable team is the key to the company’s success. SIA “Lāses AM” and the “Kolumbi” farm employ 35 people, six of whom work directly in agriculture. The Melderes have managed to solve one of the biggest challenges in rural areas – attracting seasonal workers.
Employment is provided throughout the year. Tractor and machinery operators who work in the fields in spring, summer and autumn carry out machinery maintenance and repairs or work on the farm during the winter, while livestock workers can plan and take their holidays in good time.
Relations within the team are based on mutual respect and trust. Employees are provided with work clothing, free lunches, modern machinery and opportunities to take part in study visits to international exhibitions and seminars. To strengthen the team, the Melderes recruit interns from the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies and Kandava Agricultural Technical School, and young specialists are happy to return to the farm as permanent employees.
“Dace and I weren’t here for two days, but the employees had already planned the entire week’s work themselves according to the weather conditions. Seeing that the soil was wet and sowing was not possible, they decided on their own to spread manure without waiting around. People don’t sit around doing nothing. When a professional tractor operator comes to work, they want good working conditions, modern machinery and decent pay,” the farmer says, pleased with the team’s independence.
Dace emphasises that trust works both ways:
“We have extremely responsible people who feel valued and see themselves as part of the company. We always listen to their views on what machinery or improvements are needed because they are knowledgeable and able to justify their opinions. The employees themselves say: if the company does well, we will do well too. It is a two-way process. That is why we can confidently expand both in terms of land area and herd size, because behind every success story there is a close-knit team.”
Pride in the Award
The highest honour of the Ministry of Agriculture’s “Sējējs” competition is a deeply personal and emotional moment for the Meldere family and the entire farm. It confirms that the choices made over the years, the substantial investments and the decision to build their own fully integrated organic production chain instead of opting for easier ways of making a profit have been noticed and recognised at national level.
When receiving the award, the farmer was initially almost unable to find the words to express the full range of emotions. Yet the greatest satisfaction comes from knowing that the recognition is also an acknowledgement of every employee of the farm and company who works every day to care for the land, animal welfare and the quality of the final product.
Dace Meldere recalls the award ceremony with genuine emotion:
“We were extremely honoured. The emotions were so strong that when it was time to speak, I could barely get the words out because of how overwhelmed I was. It is a tremendous honour for our farm, but most importantly, there are people behind every success story. The strong foundation of the company is our family and our team, who approach their work, animals and land with genuine responsibility, respect and love. Without them, we would be nothing, and this award is recognition for every one of us.”
Informational campaign on the Jauns.lv news portal aimed at promoting the CAP Strategic Plan (CAP SP) and the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) Programme.
