Director appointment announced for the new institution Land og skógur

Ágúst Sigurðsson, newly appointed director of Land og skógur

The Icelandic Minister of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Svandís Svavarsdóttir recently appointed Mr. Ágúst Sigurðsson as director of the new institution Land og skógur (Land and Forests) which will start operation 1 January 2024 with the merger of the Icelandic Forest Service – Skógræktin and the Icelandic Land Reclamation Service – Landgræðslan.

The new director will work together with the directors of the two current institutions and staff to prepare for the merger of the institutions. On a joint staff meeting with the minister, the staff of the two institutions were informed of the engagement.

Ágúst Sigurðsson received a PhD in genetics from the Swedish University of Agricultural sciences in Uppsala in 1996 and graduated with a B.Sc. degree from the Agricultural University of Iceland in 1989. He was the mayor of local community Rangárþing ytra in South Iceland from 2014 to 2022 and rector of the Agricultural University of Iceland from 2004 to 2014, during which he managed, among other things, the merger of the Agricultural University, the Agricultural Research Institute and the National School of Horticulture. Ágúst also worked as a national councilor in livestock genetics and horse breeding at the Icelandic Farmers' Association from 1996 to 2004. Ágúst has served on boards, councils, committees and groups related to agriculture, land reclamation, horse breeding and university affairs. He has got numerous scientific articles accepted for publication in international peer-reviewed scientific and conference journals as well as articles in professional journals and magazines.

At the staff meeting mentioned above, Minister Svandís Svavarsdóttir announced that Ágúst would start work soon and be working together with the outgoing directors, advisers and staff on the merger of the institutions that merge into Land og skógur at the end of the year.