Welcome to join us for the opening of the reindeer slaughter season 2023 in Finnish Lapland! A group of scientists, reindeer herders, animal practitioners, managers and economists are going to meet at our premises in Arctic Centre, Arktikum building, Polarium room on the 31 August 2023 at 10:00. We will discuss current issues in reindeer slaughtering, and share insights on how to best ensure the wellbeing of people and animals in reindeer herding as livelihood and economy. Please note that the working language of the day is Finnish.

Increasingly also electronic applications help in meeting high standards, and in all issues related to reindeer management. Experts from different reindeer herding cooperatives, the reindeer herders association of Finland (Paliskunnan Yhdistys), the Lapland regional administration and researchers will share their insights.

While for farmers now starts the harvest season, for reindeer herders the equivalent is the start of the slaughtering season. This draws our attention to economic questions of reindeer herding: is the hard work of herding all worth the effort financially as well? Does it ‘pay off’ to be a reindeer herder in Finland? Or is this rather a livelihood only for emotional fulfillment and those who prefer to have a nature-based livelihood? These questions are at the heart of two projects that cooperate in hosting this event on the 31 August: the VASAMA – Reindeer meat production and sales digital information development project coordinated at the Lapland University of Applied Sciences by Karoliina Majuri and Kirsi Muuttoranta, and the WAGE consortium’s “Subsidies or Welfare” project coordinated by Florian Stammler at the Arctic Centre. You can find the programme here . Please note that the working language of the day is Finnish, as this is a co-creation of knowledge and exchange event, so we operate in the most common language used here, and can’t offer professional english translation for this one.