Kurese nature farm, owned by Saare Rantso, locates on Kurese landscape protection area which belongs to Natura 2000 network and is established for protection of priority habitats such as alvars and rare species. 14 of 37 Estonian orchid species are growing on the lands of Kurese farms. Also internationally protected bird species are nesting on Kurese farm lands.

Private Limited Company Saare Rantso was founded in 2012. In April 2016 the company bought the lands belonging to Kurese nature farm with the aim of practicing organic farming accompanied with other supporting economic activities that would benefit the sustainable management of grasslands in the area. Saare Rantso’s main economic activity is organic beef cattle breeding (mainly Limousin breed). Company is also seeking for extra activities that would support the economic farming such as nature conservation (e.g. semi-natural grassland management, nature tourism development etc). Kurese nature farm has good preconditions for this as the grasslands there are very diverse and untouched from intensive farming and in addition to nature values there is also a rich cultural heritage.

Project activities

• A watering facility for grazing animals – a driven well – was set up.

• The notice board introducing Kurese natural and cultural values was built.

• A management plan for the company that supports sustainable management of grasslands of Kurese nature farm by combining organic beef farming, nature conservation, and nature tourism was developed. Kurese nature farm was a pilot area for testing the integrated planning tool on a farm level and the results were used for development of the management plan.

• 3 visitor days were organized in May 2016, in July 2017, in June 2018.