Jakob Johan Lindam

Jakob Johan Lindam manages Aru Farm, a multi-generation family enterprise in northeastern Estonia operating at commercial scale across a diverse and challenging landscape. The farm’s size, soil variability and exposure to increasingly erratic weather make it a constant exercise in risk management, long-term planning and adaptation.

After Jakob took over day-to-day management, several consecutive years of drought and difficult harvest conditions revealed how vulnerable yield-driven, conventional production models had become under changing climate realities. What had once worked reliably no longer delivered stability — agronomically or economically. These experiences became a turning point for Aru, prompting a shift away from short-term optimisation toward a systems-based approach focused on resilience.

Today, Aru Farm places strong emphasis on understanding soil variability, nutrient balance, and plant stress responses across fields rather than treating the farm as a uniform production unit. Management decisions are increasingly guided by how crops perform under pressure — drought, temperature swings, and nutrient availability — and by how well the system holds together over time, not just in good years but in difficult ones.

At Northern Roots, Jakob shares a farmer’s perspective on why balanced nutrient management has become a central pillar of Aru Farm’s long-term viability.