Geography
Finland is the most northern agriculturally self-sufficient country in the world. Finland extends all the way from 59th to 70th parallel of latitude. The terrain of Finland is mostly relatively flat and gently undulating. In southern Finland, low hills are characteristic for the landscape, whereas, in northern Finland the topography fluctuates more and the highest point reaches 1361 m. The average altitude in Finland is only about 120 to 180 meters above the mean sea level.

Population and land use
The population of Finland was approximately 5.5 Million inhabitants in 2019 as per Population Reference Bureau. Most of the population is concentrated in the southern parts of the country. Terrain of Finland is mostly covered by forests (78% of the total area) and fresh surface water bodies (10% of the total area).

Climate and rainfall
Cold snow-covered winters, spring snowmelt periods, relatively dry summer seasons and wet autumns form the typical hydrological characteristics of the country. Notable differences prevail in the climatic conditions within the country. In southern Finland, average annual precipitation is approximately 660 mm whereas northern parts of the country receive annually approximately 550 mm precipitation. In southern Finland, typically approximately 30-40% of precipitation occurs as snowfall, whereas the respective value is 40-50% in northern Finland. The amount of annual evapotranspiration is on an average 400 mm in the south and 250 mm in the north. Mean annual air temperature in southern Finland is approximately 6'C and 0'C in northern Finland. The warm Gulf Stream strongly affects the climatic conditions of Finland by increasing the air temperatures.

Food and agriculture
The geographical location and climatic conditions form characteristic challenges for agricultural production in Finland. Finland has 2.3 Mha of agricultural land area, which is only 8% of the total area of the country. The growing season is relatively short, on an average 165–185 days in southern Finland and even less than 105 days in the northernmost parts of the country. Due to the short growing season, the yields are typically clearly lower than in central Europe. Growing season occurs typically approximately between May and September when the air temperature is high and evapotranspiration dominates the water balance. Spring snowmelt and low evapotranspiration demand in spring and autumn induces high soil moisture conditions in the beginning and at the end of the growing season. Therefore, proper drainage practices are needed to facilitate satisfactory soil moisture conditions for sowing in spring, for crop growth during spring and for the harvest in autumn. Currently most of the arable land area (about 68%) is subsurface drained and 19% of the arable land area is drained with open ditches and 13% area has no drainage system. During the recent years, cropped land area has varied between 0.95 and 1.25 Mha. Clearly most commonly grown crops in Finland are barley (’600 000 ha), oat (’400 000 ha) and wheat (’200 000 ha). Rye is also quite common, but the sown land area is on average only about 20 000 ha. Spring crops are clearly more common than winter crops. The rest of the agricultural land area is utilized for the production of grass and other crops such as turnip, rape, potatoes and sugar beet or left as fallow.

Water resources management
Tens of thousands of lakes and rivers form a characteristic part of Finland’s landscape as a result of the fact that annual precipitation is clearly higher than the annual evapotranspiration. Compared with the large rivers of central Europe, the rivers of Finland are relatively small. The longest river is the Kemijoki River (length 500 Km, average discharge 610 m3/s). The hydrological system of Finland consists of approximately 79 river systems with the size higher than 200 Km2. A few of the river systems are shared with the neighbouring countries (Russia, Sweden and Norway). Most rivers are utilized for hydroelectric power production.

Most of the lakes are located in the central and eastern parts of southern Finland. The surface water reserves are vast and consumption of fresh water is clearly lower than the recharge of the reserves. Finland has vast groundwater resources. Groundwater reserves are formed and utilized mostly in the areas with deep coarse soil deposits. There are approximately 3 800 groundwater reserves which are important in the context of water supply. Groundwater reserves are estimated to recharge daily by 5.4 Mm3 of water and about 60% of the public water supply system originates from the groundwater reserves. The public system withdraws daily approximately 0.7 Mm3 of water and about 92% of Finnish households receive their water from the public systems. Typically, the quality of the groundwater reserves is good and suitable for drinking.

Irrigation and drainage
Only a small fraction of the agricultural land area is irrigated in Finland. However, mainly sprinkler irrigation is applied in a few vegetable and potato farms. During dry summers the irrigation increases crop yields, but the high variation of summer precipitation undermines its profitability in cereals and grasses. Therefore, the water management of fields using weather forecasts, controlled drainage and sub-irrigation are developed. Studies have indicated that irrigation particularly during the early summer season could increase crop yields. Since vast water resources are available, irrigation could theoretically have a role in the future of agricultural development in Finland. Field drainage is subsidized by the government. 40% of the accepted costs of basic drainage and 30% of local subsurface drainage can be covered by the government. Most of the agricultural fields already have proper drainage systems. Maintenance and improvement of poorly functioning drainage systems is one of the future issues. Research related to drainage under the changing climatic conditions and sustainable drainage methods (e.g. controlled drainage) have potential to benefit both agricultural production and the environment. Due to the climatic and geographical reasons, the flood-induced problems are clearly less severe in Finland than in Central and Western Europe. However, floods in the large river basins in the north and west coast used to cause serious damage every year. Flood protection in the north improved considerably as a result of the construction of major hydroelectric power stations in the 1940-1960s. Since then, the main emphasis in flood protection has been on implementing flood protection projects in the rivers on the west coast and developing operational flow regulation and flood defense. Most flood control projects were completed in the 1990s, and as a result about 50,000 ha of arable land is no longer flooded. Present flood protection projects are relatively small and directed mainly at reducing flood damage in inhabited areas.

Water governance
In Finland, the Centers for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment are the responsible regional authorities for the governance of the water resources. The Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) is the responsible research institute and governance agency which produce research related to the water issues, environmental changes and the related challenges. SYKE functions under the Finnish Ministry of the Environment. Natural Resources Institute Finland functions under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and conducts research related to agricultural water and soil management. Both Ministry of the Environment and Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry have shared responsibilities on the governance of the Finnish water resources.

ICID and National Committee
Finland became a member of ICID in the year 2000. In 2008, FINCID organized the 10th International Drainage Workshop jointly with the Estonian National Committee (ESTICID). The current Chairman of Finnish National Committee (FINCID) is Professor Harri Koivusalo. Dr. Mika Turunen acts as the Secretary of FINCID. Dr. Seija Virtanen is the Secretary of the Working Group on Environment; and Mr. Olli-Matti Verta is the Secretary of the European Regional Working Group and a member of the Working Group on Comprehensive Approaches to Flood Management. FINCID can be contacted at <mika.turunen@luke.fi>