The Congresses

The first congress was held in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1921, starting on July 11th at the location that today, is used by the University of Copenhagen.  This first congress gathered more than 300 participants including the Swedish Minister of Agriculture Nils Hansson as one of the invited speakers and guests of honour. Research leader Erik Lindhard, chairman of the Danish association, opened the congress.

The language was “Scandinavian” which means that Danish, Swedish and Norwegian were used and understood by the participants.

The next congress was held in Gothenburg, Sweden in June 1923 with 334 participants. In connection with the congress, several post-conference excursions were held with ambitious programs over several days. One excursion did actually start in Gothenburg and had its finale at the open-air museum Skansen in Stockholm.

Thanks to the NJF, the channels and contacts existed still after the First World War, and Congress made it possible to cover the need for cooperation between the different scientists and experts in agriculture during this time. While earlier, it had been possible to meet at exhibitions, like the ones in Copenhagen 1888, Stockholm 1897 and Kristiania (Oslo) in 1907, it was difficult to arrange such meetings during the First World War. Therefore, the NJF Congress that took place in 1921 was very important for the exchange of information, cooperation, and building social contacts. As mentioned above, it was the breakthrough of NJF. From the beginning, the intervals between the congresses were two years, later three years and since 1963 four years. There were two interruptions; 1929-1935 and 1938-1947, due to the economic crises and the war.