How We Started Out

Our family business can be traced back to the time when my great grandfather Magnús Ólafsson and his wife Margrét Lára Jónsdóttir bought the farm Eyjar II in Kjósarhreppur on departure day at the end of May in 1898 and started farming with their children. Eyjar is 1600 hectare farm located about 45 km from Reykjavik city , it is a very conveniently situated. In the old saga´s during the days of Ormur district governor, who lived at Eyjar, it was said that the farm could support 60 cows.

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Magnús Ólafsson and his family were hard-working people who made great improvements to the farm, soon it was a thriving business with well-kept fields. My great-grandfather received special recognition for his farming and for his development work from Agricultural Society.

Magnús Ólafsson’s children, Haraldur, Hans, Lára and Guðrún took over the farm from their parents. Lára is my paternal grandmother. Developments on the farm continued in the hands of the family and Eyjar was one of the most productive farms in the south-west for decades. Dairy farming was the main activity but in addition they also kept sheps. My grandmother Lára was very keen on cultivation, tending and improving the gardens and planting trees.

My father, Magnús Sæmundsson took over the farm in 1959, he increased the operations quite a lot and also added chicken farming. He was a pioneer in many respects, both in chicken farming and in introducing new farming techniques. In additon to farming he was also a leader among farmers in his district, chairman in the milk cooperative, member of the agricultural society and he was both chairman and manager of the local council. At that time the farm was still the most productive in the south-west.

In 2004 Ólafur M. Magnússon became increasingly involved in the farming though he was in full-time employment elsewhere. In 2004 Ólafur took over all operations at the farm and today he is responsible for overall management.