He attended a private agricultural school at Østensjø from 1876 to 1878, the Higher College of Agriculture at Aas from 1883 to 1884 and the Landwirtschaftliche Hochschule Berlin (Agricultural University of Berlin) from 1885 to 1886. In 1887, together with his brother Wilhelm, he established an agricultural college at the farm Sem, today known as a manor which in 2001 lent its name to the Declaration of Sem of the second cabinet Bondevik. They ran the college until 1914. In 1893 he took over the farm Tveter, and was a farmer there. His book "Husdyrlære", a textbook on livestock, came in 1897 and was reprinted fourteen times, last in 1961. Also, he contributed to the newspapers and magazines "Budstikken", "Dagbladet", "Verdens Gang", "Tidens Tegn" and "Allers" with writings on agriculture.