NORTHGRO is an international agricultural business dedicated to the management of agricultural enterprises in the Baltic countries of Lithuania and Latvia.
A competent team of farming experts works in the two countries to sustainably cultivate wheat, rye, barley, oats, rapeseed, and beans. In this process, we pay special attention to the environment, farmers, and the consumers of our produces. In addition, the farms have extensive woodland.
The use of state-of-the-art machinery and technologies is improving the quality of farmland, biodiversity, and harvests. Innovation has top priority for us, and this is something on which we continue to invest, striving for a better future for people – because we are farming for people.
Our mission is to grow healthy food for people. We use innovative technologies and state-of-the-art machinery to plant healthy grain. Sustainability is our top priority. NORTHGRO’s greatest asset are its employees, who are the ones who make this goal reality.
NORTHRO is motivated by the desire to produce high-quality, fresh food as well to be self-sufficient and independent. It offers personal and professional fulfilment, as it allows people to work closely with the natural world and to see the results of their labour firsthand.
Located in two countries and different regions with varying climates and overall conditions, our farms focus on maximizing efficiency and productivity of the crops through the use of advanced and various technologies.
We prioritize sustainable farming practices such as using organic methods, minimizing waste, conserving water and focus on supporting local and regional food systems. We also strive to innovation through the use of new technologies and practices including alternative energy sources, precision farming, data analytics.
At our farms, we are committed to creating a safe and healthy workplace. We take all necessary precautions to ensure a safe work environment and we conduct our business with honesty and integrity. We act with honesty and transparency in all our dealings, both internally and externally.
Driving excellence in all that we do. As leaders at our farms, we focus on setting clear goals, valuing continuous learning and, above all, acting with integrity, respect, and transparency in all our interactions. „The earth is a living organism, and we are a part of it.“ - Chief Seattle
MANAGER
The average age of our farm workers is 29. These women and men are strong and not afraid of the hard work throughout the day. And thanks to our state-of-the-art machinery, processes can now be simplified enabling people to focus on other things alongside their manual work. As a result, we stimulate the creativity of our employees, who come up with new ideas to push innovation and improve our harvest.
FARMING MANAGER VALMIERA
Graduated from Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, with a Bachelor of Engineering, Hartwig first gained experience in various fields in Germany, Costa Rica, and Russia. Later stations led him to cooperating manger positions in agricultural farms first in Germany, then in Latvia, where he started since 2015 as farm manager at Northgro’s Valmiera farms. “This work gives me so much joy and allows me to combine practical as well as academic skills directly on the field”, Hartwig says.
FARM MANAGER ERZVILKAS
The average age of our farm workers is 29. These women and men are strong and not afraid of the hard work throughout the day. And thanks to our state-of-the-art machinery, processes can now be simplified enabling people to focus on other things alongside their manual work. As a result, we stimulate the creativity of our employees, who come up with new ideas to push innovation and improve our harvest.
FARMING MANAGER ZIDIKAI
With an agricultural apprenticeship and a bachelor’s degree in agriculture from Kiel University of Applied Sciences, Christian’s career has spanned a variety of professions, from self-employment in agricultural service companies to crop advisor, biogas plant supervisor and field manager. Since 2019, he joined the Northgro family and has been supporting the agricultural business as a farm manager in Nordicagra. What he likes the most about his work is that he is involved in every process happening on the farm, be it with the employees or the produce.
NORTHGRO manages three fertile farms growing wheat, rye, barley, oats, and rapeseed as well as large acers of forest. The moderate climate, the fertile soil, and the excellent natural water supply result in rich harvests. Lithuania and Latvia are considered as the granary of the Baltic States. About 39 % of the total area of these countries is farmland and 67 % is arable land and 44 % covered in forest.
Agriculture has developed rapidly in the Baltic states since they joined the EU in 2004. Moreover, both growth and demand from foreign markets and the successful operation of agriculture have led to excellent results and increased grain and oilseed exports.
Using only the finest machinery and state-of-the-art technologies, to grow sustainable & healthy grain and oilseed crops. The produce undergoes dehydration and processing in the company’s own facilities and is traded successfully both locally and internationally.
Our mission is „Farming for People“.
Our products enable millions of people to eat healthily. We pay attention to sustainable cultivation and biodiversity. We believe that it makes no sense to exploit the soil and deprive its nutrients. Therefore, we focus on biodiversity and sustainability.
We constantly rely on state-of-the-art technologies and machinery and are continuously thinking out of the box. This makes work easier for our employees and protects the environment.
In everything we do, we focus on people.
First and foremost, we ensure the safety of our employees and create a safe working environment.
Our mission is „If you come to work healthy, you should also go home healthy“.
These values are timeless and form the backbone of everything we do. Together, they are the foundation of our business and how we work sustainably. These initiatives reflect diversity, community, employees and our harvest, and the commitments we have made.
We are committed to creating and maintaining a safe and healthy working environment for our employees, contractors, and visitors, and to protect the environment, society and natural resources on our farms. Our health, safety and environmental aims are integrated into our day-to-day business management.
The safety, health and well-being of our employees are close to our hearts: we focus on preventive safety work and well-being as well as on the continuous development of our work processes.
We emphasise work safety to the utmost. We expect our employees to strictly follow both NORTHGRO’s safety guidelines and the safety rules and regulations that apply in the workplace. Occupational safety orientation and training are part of the work of all employees at NORTHGRO. We focus on proactive safety work; we regularly conduct personal risk assessments, review, and learn from incidents, discuss safety issues, and conduct safety audits.
We encourage our employees to look after their wellbeing, both at work and outside work. We consider health risks and work closely with the occupational health service and support work ability, workload management and return to work through various individual initiatives.
We are committed to providing a healthy and safe working environment for all NORTHGRO employees, regardless of where they work. NORTHGRO complies with local laws and trade union agreements in all countries where we operate.
For example, we have clearly defined working hours in each country and for each workplace. We want to ensure that all our employees have a good work-life balance and can look after their well-being.
We regularly work with the works councils at national level.
NORTHGRO continues to work on the implementation of a common group-wide supplier auditing process to increase transparency and consistency across the company.
NORTHGRO has continued to reduce the number of suppliers and improve the leverage of the supply base through continuous consolidation of purchases from selected suppliers.
We have several common suppliers, while much of the purchasing in the countries where we operate is done locally with selected suppliers. We value the proximity to our suppliers and their ability to respond quickly to changing business needs.
NORTHGRO’s Supplier Code of Conduct is available here. Under the Supplier Code of Conduct, our suppliers, subcontractors and other business partners must:
Our strong commitment to ethical business practices forms the basis for responsible business conduct. In accordance with NORTHGRO’s Code of Conduct, we promote an open and cooperative atmosphere in the workplace and respect internationally proclaimed human rights, which means, for example:
