Farming couple Anu and Esa Immonen run Esa's family estate in Nilsiä in the province of Savo, a good 400 km north of Helsinki. These are the northernmost farmed areas in the world. The crops that grow in these latitudes comprise a small selection of cereals, vegetables, berries and grass for hay. The growing season is short but intense — there is enough sunlight and water during the few summer months.

Anu and Esa are peacefully drinking their afternoon coffee at the table in their cosy farmhouse living-room. They have about 50 dairy cows, but no longer have to rush to milk them. These days an automatic milking system takes care of that. The cows walk to the milking station by themselves when they feel like it; the machine cleans their udders, takes the necessary samples, milks them, and provides each cow with a programmed amount of feed concentrate. The farmer's and his wife's most important device is the computer that produces a real-time report on the cows' milking behaviour and health. This level of efficiency compensates for the disadvantage of a short growing season.

"The amount of work done in the cowshed has decreased by a certain amount and the automatic milking system gives more flexibility in managing our time," explains Esa happily. "Now I can attend the spring party at my children's musical kindergarten, even if it is held at the traditional milking time,” he adds enthusiastically. Esa and Anu have two young daughters, Veera, 4, and Riina, 2.