Crop cultivation - International Federation of Agricultural Journalists

Transcription

Welcome to Sweden
“DeLaval are honored to sponsor the 2012 meeting of the International
Federation of Agricultural Journalists. This is a great opportunity to share our
story with agricultural journalists from around the world, who plays such an
important role for our industry. We are looking forward to show you our own
Hamra Farm, which we believe represents both the history and the future
of milk production.”
Benoît Passard, Vice President of Marketing & Communications
DeLaval has over 125 years of innovation and experience in the dairy business, supporting
dairy farmers in managing their farms their way. Our Sustainable Dairy Farming initiative is
contributing to the production of more quality food, for more people, with less impact on
the environment. Our Smart Farming strategy aims at influencing and shaping the future of
dairy farming today. The goal is to accelerate the transition from milking management to
global farm profitability management by harnessing emerging decision tools and automation
technologies for better quality milk and profits.
4
SOLUTIONS FOR A GREEN FUTURE
Publisher
FSLJ, Föreningen Skogs och Lantbruksjournalister
Editor in chief
Tina Andersson
Layout
Isabel Hygstedt
Writers
Tina Andersson, Gunilla Ander, Hans Dahlgren,
Karin Murén, Tove Nilsson and Jan Olsson.
Photo
Tina Andersson, Torbjörn Esping, Isabel Hygstedt,
Ann Lindén, Tove Nilsson, Marina Tell,
Naturvårdsverket, Visit Sweden.
Translation
Kay Hutchings
John Thelin (Wiggeby)
Map
Lönegård&Co
Graphic
ATL/Kaia Ekegren
Print
Täby-tryck
Stockholm 2011
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Essential for
a sustainable society
Lack of food, climate changes,
energy shortages, scarce of land...
The future challenges are many
and great. Agriculture and forestry
can provide solutions to several of
them.
Agriculture is often being blamed for environmental problems. But recently more
people have begun to look upon farming
with fresh eyes. Except being the base
of the vital food production, agriculture
could also provide “clean” and renewable
energy.
Agriculture and forestry could even
become a key player in creating effective
recycling and taking care of waste from the
society. If this is successfully done, it can
also increase the appreciation to a bigger
group of people.
How farmers can contribute to future
challenges will be shown during the 56th
IFAJ congress in Sweden. There will be
presentations that show how agriculture is
integrated with other activities in society.
The future role of agriculture and forestry
will also be discussed as well as more and
new possibilities in the future.
The demand on organically and locally
produced food is as in many countries
steadily increasing in Sweden. One big
challenge for Swedish farmers is to make
sure that the production of organic and
small-scaled food is equivalent to demand.
Today there is a little bit more than
72 000 farm businesses in Sweden. Milk
stands for more than 20 percentage of the
total value. It means that milk still is the
single biggest agricultural product, though
the amount of dairy cows is steadily decreasing.
To learn more about Swedish agriculture and its role in the society it is a pleasure
to welcome the members of IFAJ to Sweden and the 56th IFAJ congress “Solutions
for a green future” between the 15th and
the 19th of August 2012!
Lena Johansson
General of the congress
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Counties in Sweden
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Norrbottens län
Västerbottens län
Jämtlands län
Västernorrlands län
Dalarnas län
Gävleborgs län
Värmlands län
Örebro län
Västmanlands län
Uppsala län
Västra Götalands län
Jönköpings län
Östergötlands län
Södermanlands län
Stockholms län
Hallands län
Kronobergs län
Kalmar län
Gotlands län
Skåne län
Blekinge län
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Karta: Lönegård & Co
Grafik: ATL/Kaia Ekegren
7
Welcome to Sweden!
Sweden is the fifth largest country in Europe. It’s a long
distance from the southern to the northern part of the
country which means, therefore, big differences in climate,
habitats and conditions for agriculture.
Population density is relatively low, averaging only 23
persons per km2 but varies widely and is highest in the
south of the country. About 85 percent of the population
live in the cities.
Sweden has been a member of the European Union (EU)
since 1995. The name of the country in Swedish is Sverige.
Facts about Sweden
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Sweden is situated in the north of Europe and
has land borders with Norway and Finland.
In the south, Sweden is linked to Denmark by
a bridge.
Area: 450,000 km² (174,000 square miles)
Forests: 53%
Mountains: 11%
Cultivated land: 8%
Lakes and rivers: 9%
Longest north-south distance: 1,574 km, (978
miles)
Longest east-west distance: 499 km (310
miles)
Capital: Stockholm, 1.3 million inhabitants
Population: 9.4 million inhabitants
Currency: Swedish krona (SEK)
Languages: Swedish; recognized minority
languages: Sami (Lapp), Finnish, Meänkieli
(Tornedalen Finnish), Yiddish, Romani Chib
Useful links:
www.sweden.se
http://www.scb.se/
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Form of government: Constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy
Parliament: The Riksdag, with 349 members
in one chamber
Religion: 80 % of Swedish citizens belong to
the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sweden.
In practice, Sweden is very secularized.
Islam is the second biggest religion in
Sweden
Life expectancy: Men 79 years, women 83
years
Most important export goods: Machinery,
electronics and telecommunication, paper,
pharmaceuticals, petroleum products, iron
and steel, and foodstuffs
Most important imported goods: Electronics
and telecommunication, machinery, foodstuffs,
crude oil, textiles and footwear, chemicals,
pharmaceuticals and petroleum products
Foreign exchange rates
1 US $ = 6.74 SEK
1£ = 10.83 SEK
1€ = 9.08 SEK
(as of 15 February 2011)
8
Small farms up north, larger down south
In these counties, the percentage
of the farms that focus on animal
husbandry is higher than the
Swedish average. (The Swedish
average from 2010 is that 29 % of
the farms focus on animal
husbandry.)
Here, more farms than the Swedish
average focus on arable farming.
(The Swedish average is 29 %.)
In these counties, more farms
than the average are small.
(The Swedish average is 35%).
Source: Swedish Board of Agriculture
Karta: Lönegård & Co
Grafik: ATL/Kaia Ekegren
9
An overview of
Swedish agriculture
The total agricultural area in Sweden is 2.6 million hectares. There are about 72,600 holdings (2007) of which 31%
are fully owned and 61% partly leased. The average area
per holding is 36.5 hectares. The tendency is that arable
land per farm is increasing from year to year, the number
of farms with less than 100 hectares is decreasing and the
number of larger farms with more than 100 hectares is
increasing.
Animal husbandry is the dominant line of
production. It is only in the central region
and the southern county of Skåne that crop
production dominates.
In the north of Sweden there are mostly
small farms. Agriculture is often combined
with forestry in many parts of the country.
Almost 40,000 businesses can be classified,
by measuring their labour requirements, as
part-time farms. About 18,800 farms need
more than 1,600 hours of labour per year
and are classified as full-time farms. Only
5,600 are so large that there is a constant
need for extra farm workers in addition to
the owners.
Map with the characteristic types of
farming by county in different parts of
Sweden is shown om page 8.
The total number of people employed in
agriculture and subsidiary industries
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10
is about 78,500 people, of which 51,000
work in agriculture. This corresponds to
1.8% and 1.5% of total employment. The
largest portion of people engaged in agriculture is found on the island of Gotland.
The average Swedish farmer is between
55–59 years of age with 22% older than 65
and only 5% younger than 35.
The price of agricultural land has
increased constantly since Sweden joined
the European Union (EU) in 1995. The
average price in 2008 was 40,200 SEK per
hectare but there is a very wide variation
between the intense farming areas in the
south and the thinly populated and less
attractive land in the north. In the southern counties, prices between 200,000 and
300,000 SEK per hectare are now common
(2010).
Also, the rent for agricultural land has
increased in the same way between 1994
and 2008 by an average of 64%. In the
south, the increase has been 85% during
the same period.
The contribution of agriculture to the
GNP was 17.1 billion SEK in 2007. This
is equivalent to 0.5% and there has been a
constant decline in this amount for many
years.
Sweden imported agricultural products
and foodstuffs for 93 billion SEK in 2009,
which is about 10% of total imports. Exports amounted to 50 billion SEK or about
5% of total export value. Trade in agricultural commodities and foods are mainly
with other EU countries. Outside the EU,
Norway and USA are the major trading
partners.
l
Useful links
http://www.jordbruksverket.se/swedishboardofagriculture/statistics.4.68dc110a12390c69dde8000500.
html Swedish Board of Agriculture, Yearbook of Agricultural Statistics 2010 with a summary in English.
11
Crop cultivation
In Sweden, more than 3 million square hectares of farming
land is cultivated, of which 2.6 million hectares is arable
land. Crop cultivation is dominated by grain and grassland
cultivation which constitutes 37 percent and 45 percent
respectively of the arable area.
The most common grain cultivation is
wheat, barley and oats. The yield levels
vary greatly between the different regions.
Productivity is highest in the flat plains
of the south and lowest in the north. In the
last few years, the yield per hectare of autumn wheat has averaged 6,300 kilograms.
The different climate conditions determine the types of crops grown across the
country.
Grazing pasture fodder and grain for
animal feed are foremost cultivated in the
north.
Production of bread grain is concentrated
in the central and southern flat plains and
the largest quantity of oilseeds, mostly rapeseed and turnip rape, are cultivated there.
The biggest areas of grain cultivation are
in the counties of Skåne and Västra Götaland. Sugar beets are cultivated furthest
south and potatoes are grown throughout
the whole country.
4
Arable land divided into different crop types (2010)
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Crop
Grain
Legumes (peas, beans etc)
Pasture fodder
Potatoes
Sugar beets
Rapeseed and turnip rape
Others
Fallow land (land left unploughed
and unseeded during a growing season)
Area (in hectares)
971,100
45,700
1,213,500
27,000
37,900
109,100
51,600
170,300
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Crop cultivation
The market
The largest participant in the market, to
which the majority of grain is delivered, is
Lantmännen, a company owned by 37,000
farmers.
The company receives, refines and sells
what the farmers produce and supplies input commodities such as fertilizer, pesticides and fodder. Lantmännen’s share of the
market is between 50–90 percent within
several areas of activity. Other participants
in the market are the Danish-owned Svenska Foder, DLA Agro and a smaller number
of trading companies.
The prices of grain in Sweden are greatly
affected by the international, and in particular the European, grain market. During
2009 and 2010, Lantmännen’s prices of
bread wheat varied between 930 and 1,800
SEK per ton.
The grain farmers in Sweden sell, to a
large extent, their product at an average
price which is based on what deals were
made by the cooperative during a set time
period. A smaller number of farmers sell
their goods at the daily market price and
less than one fifth of the quantities are
price guaranteed.
Export and import
Of all the agricultural products, grain is
the largest export. Of the 5 million tons (a
5-year average) of grain produced in Sweden, about 20 percent is exported. Grain
constitutes 12 percent of the value of the
total export of foodstuffs and is the only
agricultural product which Sweden exports
more of than imports.
Problems
After Swedish agriculture was deregulated
in the 1990s, many farms disappeared as
a result of an extensive restructuring. The
new situation with greater price fluctuations put a demand on the farmer to adapt
to the market. Many farmers wrestle with
poor profitability and relatively few choose
to use the existing instruments to secure
prices.
As a consequence of the extensive restructuring, Lantmännen has closed down
many grain premises around the country.
This means that many farmers have been
forced to build their own storage and drying plants on their farms.
Heavy criticism has been directed at
how the trade in fertilizers operates in
Sweden. According to the critics, certain companies have an all too dominant
position in the market. For the time being,
market conditions are being investigated
by two state enquiry groups.
l
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Crop cultivation
Contacts
Jordbruksverket (www.jordbruksverket.se) – Swedish Board of Agriculture
LRF (www.lrf.se) – Swedish Farmers Association
Lantmännen Lantbruk (www.lantmannen.com) – a large grain cooperative
Svenska Foder (www.svenskafoder.se) – a private grain company
Spannmålsodlarna, Spmo (www.spmo.se, Chairman Per Sandberg Telephone: +46 (0) 70546 50 03)
– a crop cultivation association
BM Agri (www.spannmal.se, CEO Mats Eriksson Telephone: + 46 (0) 70 3456040)
– a small grain trading company
Betodlarna (www.betodlarna.se, Chairman Otto von Arnold Telephone: +46 (0) 708 12 64 25)
– Association of Sugar Beet Growers
Svensk Raps (www.svenskraps.se, CEO Henrik Strindberg – Swedish Rapeseed Association
Telephone: +46 (0) 40 46 20 83)
Hushållningssällskapen (www.hush.se)
15
Milk – animals
and dairy farmers
There are around 1.5 million cattle in Sweden and approximately 276,000 of them are dairy cows. They produce
more or less three million tons of milk, which meant that
in 2010 Sweden used 82% of its milk quota.
The number of dairy farmers in Sweden
has been steadily decreasing over the
last few years. Two thousand dairy farms
have disappeared over a period of 5 years,
leaving a total of 4,300 dairy farms in 2010.
Although structural reorganization has
resulted in the producers becoming larger
- the average producer today has 62 cows
- the total number of cows has reduced by
14 percent over 5 years.
Breeds
The most common dairy breeds are the
Swedish Lowland cattle (SLB/Holstein)
and the Swedish Red and White cattle
(SRB). More than 90% of all cows are
from these two breeds. In 2010 there were
rather more SLB cows than SRB cows. A
smaller percentage of the dairy cows are
from the Swedish Hornless (SKB) and the
Swedish Jersey breeds.
The amount of milk produced by Swedish
cows has increased over the last few years,
apart from 2010 when average productivity
decreased somewhat. In that year it was almost 9,500 kilos of energy-corrected milk
per cow and year. The most productive
breed was the Swedish Lowland.
Where are the dairy farms located?
Most dairy farms are found in a belt over
southern Sweden, from Halland in the
west, to Kalmar and Gotland in the east.
However, Skåne in the very south is not
part of this region and has instead predominantly crop cultivation farming.
The market
The prices of milk in Sweden have been
affected all the more steadily by the international market, as European agricultural
politics has become less regulated. Over 4
16
Milk – animals and dairy farmers
the last 5 years the prices paid to farmers
have varied between 2.75 and 3.50 SEK per
kilo of milk.
The majority of the Swedish milk
producers deliver their milk to dairy
cooperatives which they co-own with other
farmers and of which they are members.
The largest cooperatives are Arla Foods,
Norrmejerier, Milko and Skånemejerier.
Gefleortens and Falköpings are examples
of two smaller dairies.
In recent years, a number of smaller
dairies have been established which are
owned by a small group of farmers who
have merged together.
Export and import
Foreign trade in dairy products constitutes 5–6% of the value of the total trade
in food supplies. The Swedish import of
dairy products is more than double as large
as exports. Milk, cream and yoghurt are
the biggest products within both import
and export. Sweden clearly imports more
cheese than it exports.
Problems
The problem of profitability within milk
production means that many dairy farms
in Sweden have been closed down and as a
result the production of milk has decreased
greatly in the last few years. Many dairy
cooperatives suffer from overcapacity and
a number of dairies have closed down.
Competition for milk raw materials has
grown.
It is the law in Sweden that all cows are
able to graze outdoors in the summer. The
law is much debated and the critics uphold
that the law leads to heightened costs and
worse competition for Swedish dairy farmers
compared to other European farmers.
l
Contacts
Svensk Mjölk (www.svenskmjolk.se) – a Swedish dairy farmers association
Husdjursföreningarna (Skånesemin, Svenska Husdjur, Växa Halland, Freja Husdjur, Rådgivarna i Sjuhärad,
Hansa Husdjur, Norrmejerier) – animal husbandry associations
LRF (www.lrf.se) – Swedish Farmers Association
Jordbruksverket (www.jordbruksverket.se) - Swedish Board of Agriculture
Sveriges Mjölkbönder (www.sverigesmjolkbonder.se, Chairman Stefan Gård Telephone: +46 (0) 70 62
222 33) – Swedish Dairy Farmers Association
Arla Foods (www.arlafoods.se, press contact: +46 (0) 70 88 44 290) – a dairy farmers cooperative
Norrmejerier (www.norrmejerier.se, press contact Kristina Stiernspetz: +46 (0) 70 2603740) – a dairy
farmers cooperative in northern Sweden
Milko (www.milko.se, press contact: +46 (0) 70 337 17 17) – a dairy farmers cooperative in central
Sweden
Skånemejerier (www.skanemejerier.se, +46 (0) 40 31 39 00) – a dairy farmers cooperative in Skåne,
southern Sweden
17
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Pigs
There are around 1,700 pig farms in Sweden. In total,
slightly less than 3 million pigs are slaughtered every year,
which is around 800,000 fewer than when Sweden joined
the European Union in 1995. Only 1% of the 3 million
slaughtered pigs are reared ecologically. Swedes eat on
average approximately 36 kilograms of pork per year. 4
Problems
The profitability of pig breeding in Sweden
has been poor for several years. The high
cost of fodder is one reason. Another
reason is that it is more costly to raise
pigs in Sweden than in other European
countries due to stricter animal protection
legislation. One example is tail docking
which is forbidden. To keep sows contained in gestation crates is also forbidden.
Furthermore, the pen area is larger than in
competitor countries such as Denmark and
Germany.
Swedish pig production is entirely adapted to the market and the farmers receive
no economic support or subsidies.
Bigger and bigger farms
Swedish pig production is undergoing
structural reorganization. More than 70%
of the pigs bred for slaughter exist on farms
that deliver more than 750 slaughter pigs
per year. Nearly 90% of all sows are on
farms with at least 100 sows.
Two thirds of all sows are reared on
farms with at least 200 sows. This is despite
the fact that these large farms only constitute 15% of all pig production companies
which have sows and boars.
Pigs in the south
Geographically, nearly a third of all pigs in
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Sweden are in the county of Skåne, in the
south. Only 3% of pig breeding is based in
Norrland in the north of the country.
Breeds
A commonplace breed for sows in Sweden is a cross between Norsk Lantras and
Svensk Yorkshire. Sows are usually inseminated with semen from Hampshire and
Duroc breeds of boar.
Lots of land
More than 50% of the Swedish pig farmers
have more than 50 hectares of arable land.
Nearly the same amount of farms with
sows and boars, 46%, have more than
50 hectares of land. Disposal of manure
is not as big a problem as in some other
countries.
Prices
The basic listing price which the farmer is
paid is based partly on the weight of the
pig and partly on the percentage of meat
on the pig. The payment varies greatly.
Over the last few years, the price has been
as low as 9.40 SEK per kilogram, but also
been over 15 SEK per kilogram.
In addition to the basic listing price, the
farmer is paid delivery supplements which
are based on how often and how many pigs
the farm delivers.
4
20
Pigs
As well as these official added extras,
there are also individual, private added
extras, which can add as much as 2–3 SEK
to the price per kilogram.
The abattoirs
Swedish abattoirs have undergone an
extensive structural reorganization
over the last decade. Ten years ago, the
cooperatively-owned slaughter company,
Swedish Meats, dominated the market.
Swedish Meats was owned by around
18,000 farmers.
Today, there are no cooperativelyowned slaughter companies in Sweden.
Swedish Meats has been sold to Finland
and is owned by HK Scan. The previously
cooperatively-owned KLS has been sold to
Danish Crown.
Sweden’s two largest slaughter companies are, therefore, foreign owned. Alongside this there are a number of privately-
owned abattoirs – the largest are Dalsjöfors
and Skövde.
99.5 percent of Sweden’s pigs are slaughtered in one of the country’s eleven largest
abattoirs. Nine of these are in the southern
part of the country. Approximately one
third of the pigs – around one million in
number – are slaughtered every year in
Sweden’s largest abattoir in Kristianstad in
Skåne.
Import and export
Swedish imports of pork come mainly
from Denmark and Germany. These two
countries were jointly responsible for 71
percent of all exports of pork to Sweden in
2009.
During 2009, the total amount of
imports of pork to Sweden decreased by
3.5%. Imported pork made up one third of
the total consumption of pork in Sweden.
Sweden’s export of pork is minimal.
l
Contacts
Sveriges Grisföretagare (www.sverigesgrisforetagare.se) Sweden’s Pig Farmers Association
Sveriges Djurbönder (www.sverigesdjurbonder.se) Association for farmers with pigs, cattle, lambs and
sheep.
Scan (www.scan.se) Sweden’s largest meat company, owned largely by Finnish HK Scan.
KLS Ugglarps (www.klsugglarps.se) The second largest meat company in Sweden, owned by Danish
Crown
LRF (www.lrf.se) The Federation of Swedish Farmers
Jordbruksverket (www.jordbruksverket.se), telephone: +46 (0)36 155000. Swedish Board of Agriculture
21
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Cattle
Approximately 425,000 cattle are slaughtered in Sweden
annually. Almost 25 percent are dairy cows and a little over
35 percent are different breed crossings and purebreds reared for meat production. About 40 percent are young bulls,
steers and heifers from dairy breeds.
The average Swede eats 25 kilograms of beef each year.
In 2010, half of the consumption of beef in Sweden was
4
imported meat.
23
24
Cattle
Problems
Beef cattle herds are to a great extent, still
quite small. Farmers who work with beef
cattle tend to be older as cattle production
has often been seen as a way for a dairy
farmer to wind down their workload prior
to retirement. Another problem is the abolition of EU subsidies for bulls and steers,
which disappears at the turn of 2011–2012.
The EU subsidy has been a source of income for many beef producers and the risk
is that they will not regard it worthwhile
to continue production when the subsidy
is withdrawn. There is also the risk that a
large number of animals will be slaughtered at the end of 2011 so that the farmers
will get as much subsidy as possible. If this
happens there is a more than possible risk
that Swedish beef production will diminish
greatly in the years that follow.
Fewer beef producers
The number of farms rearing cattle for
meat production has decreased over the
last few years. After the peak in the mid1990s, the number of farms with animals
reared for beef is now back to the same level as it was at the beginning of the 1980s.
Small herds
The average herd of cattle reared for beef
production consisted of 16 animals in 2009
compared to 6 animals in 1980.
Where are the herds?
Geographically, most cattle are found in
Skåne and Västra Götaland. Combined,
these two counties have nearly a third of
Sweden’s cattle.
Breeds
Charolais and Hereford are among the
predominant breeds of cattle in Sweden.
Prices of beef
During 2010, the abattoirs’ basic listing
prices varied between 23–26 SEK per
kilogram. The price of cows has been approximately 5 SEK less. In addition to the
basic listing price, the slaughter companies
pay extra for frequent and full deliveries.
A farmer who delivers at least 15 cattle per
week gets about 1 SEK extra per kilogram.
If fewer animals are delivered, the added
extra payment is lowered.
Import and export
Sweden’s imports of beef dropped by 8.8
percent in 2009 but rose by 8.4 percent in
2010. 50 percent of Swedish consumption
of beef is imported meat.
Ireland is incomparably the largest exporter of beef to Sweden, supplying nearly
one third of all beef imports. Germany is
second and Denmark third.
Slaughter
Approximately 425,000 cattle were slaughtered in 2010. This is 65,000 less than in
2000. Sixteen abattoirs spread out over
the country accounted for 94 percent of
Sweden’s slaughter of animals in 2010. l
25
Contacts
Sveriges Nötköttsproducenter (www.sverigesnotkottproducenter.se) – Sweden’s Beef Producers Association
Sveriges Djurbönder (www.sverigesdjurbonder.se) – Association for farmers with cattle, pigs, sheep and
lambs. It has approximately 16,000 members.
Scan (www.scan.se) Sweden’s largest meat company, owned largely by Finnish HK Scan.
KLS Ugglarps - Sweden’s second largest meat company, owned by Danish Crown. It has 2 abattoirs in the
south and southeast of Sweden.
LRF (www.lrf.se) – The Federation of Swedish Farmers
Jordbruksverket (www.jordbruksverket.se), telephone: +46 (0)36 15 50 00. Swedish Board of
Agriculture
26
Sheep and lambs
Sheep and lamb breeding in Sweden is, to a large extent,
small scale. Every third farm has a maximum of 9 fullygrown animals.
A positive trend
In contrast to pigs and cattle, sheep and
lamb breeding has experienced a positive development in the last few years.
Production has increased, as has Swedes’
consumption of lamb. Consumption is,
however, still on a low level compared to
many other countries. The average Swede
eats between 1–2 kilograms of lamb every
year.
More and more animals
The number of ewes and rams in Sweden
was 254,000 in 2009 and the number of
lambs was 287,000. In total, the number
of sheep has increased by 149,000 animals
since 1980. This corresponds to an increase
of 38 percent.
The production of Swedish lamb has
grown by more than 50% since 1995.
Problems
Sheep and lamb breeding is still, to a great
extent, partly a hobby for many farmers.
Small scale farming continues to be a problem which leads to a production that does
not adjust to the demand. The abattoirs
and meat companies want lambs in the period before New Year, Easter and Ramadan
– these are the three high points during the
year when demand is greatest. However,
most lambs are delivered to the abattoirs in
the autumn because it is cheaper to raise a
lamb which is born in the spring and then
goes out to graze all summer. The abattoirs
raise the basic listing price steeply in the
weeks preceding the three high points to
make farmers more business minded and
make them deliver lambs when demand is
highest.
Where sheep and lambs are
The three counties which have the most
sheep and lambs are Västra Götaland,
Skåne and Gotland.
Prices
The prices for lamb vary throughout
the year. The highest prices are before
Ramadan, New Year and Easter. During
2010, the basic listing price was swinging
back and forth between 24 and 32 SEK
per kilogram for a lamb weighing 16–23
kilograms. Supplements add extra SEK per
kilo to the farmer during the periods that
precedes the three high points of the year.
Abattoirs and meat companies
Finnish-owned Scan leads the market, accounting for over half of all lamb slaughters. In 2010, a total of 257,000 lambs and
sheep were slaughtered in Sweden, which
is 50,000 more than in 2000.
27
Import and export
The import grew by 13.7 percent in 2009.
In total, 9,700 tons of mutton and lamb
meat were imported in that year, which
accounted for two-thirds of Sweden’s consumption.
New Zealand was the largest exporter,
followed by Ireland. Sweden’s exports were
195 tons in 2009.
l
Contacts
Svenska Fåravelsförbundet (www.faravelsforbundet.com), telephone: +46 (0)18 317200. Sweden’s Sheep
Breeding League.
Sveriges Lammproducenter (www.lammproducenterna.org) – Sweden’s Lamb Producers Association
Sveriges Djurbönder (www.sverigesdjurbonder.se) Association for farmers with cattle, pigs, sheep and
lambs. It has approximately 16,000 members.
Scan (www.scan.se) – Sweden’s largest meat company, owned largely by Finland’s HK Scan.
Jordbruksverket (www.jordbruksverket.se) telephone: +46 (0)36 155000. Swedish Board of Agriculture
28
Poultry
The slaughter of broiler chickens in Sweden has increased
by 20 percent since 1995. In 2009, 71.8 million broiler
chickens were produced in Sweden. The average weight of
a broiler chicken at the time of slaughter was 1.9 kilograms.
From 2008 to 2009 the number of egg-laying hens decreased by 5 percent to 5.3 million.
Consumption
Consumption of poultry grew in Sweden during the first 10 months of 2010.
Consumption of Swedish broiler chickens
increased by 8.5 percent and at the same
time imports grew by 4.3 percent compared with the same period the year before.
The year before, 2009, consumption of
Swedish produced broiler chicken increased by 3.4 percent. In that year, every
Swede ate an average of 8 kilograms of
chicken. In the last 10 years the consumption of poultry has more than doubled in
Sweden. However, despite this, the average
Swede eats less chicken than their European counterparts.
A few large farms dominate
Farms with more than 100 hectares of
arable land have nearly a third of all
hens.
Only every twentieth farm has more
29
Poultry
than 5,000 birds. These few but large farms
have, however, 95 percent of all hens.
Where the hens are located
Two-thirds of all of Sweden’s egg-laying
hens are found in four counties: Skåne,
Östergötland, Västra Götaland and Halland.
Turkey breeding in decline
In the turkey breeding business, 3 out of 5
farms have disappeared between 2005 and
2007.
In 2007, there were 101,000 turkeys
at the remaining farms. Two-thirds of all
turkey breeders are in Skåne in the south of
the country.
l
Contacts
Svensk Fågel (www.svenskfagel.se) – Svensk Fågel is an organization representing 98% of the broiler
production in Sweden. The organization represents every link from farmer to abattoir.
Jordbruksverket (www.jordbruksverket.se), telephone: +46 (0)36 155000, Swedish Board of Agriculture
30
What is good for
the farmers wallet can also
be good for the environment
What is good for the grain farmer’s wallet can be
favourable to the vulnerable Baltic Sea environment. This
has been proven by the Eriksson family of Wiggeby Farms
on the island of Färingsö. For Håkan and Teri Lee, the
sustainable approach goes hand-in-hand with sound
business practice.
4
31
32
What is good for
“Conserving resources is a key in our business. That it is beneficial for the environment is a bonus,” explains Teri Lee, born
and raised on a farm in Kansas, but rooted
in Sweden since 1982.
From initially limiting the sustainable
approach to their own farm, Mr. and Mrs.
Eriksson gradually widened the circle to
the surrounding area. By combining modern and traditional techniques, Wiggeby
has reduced the leakage of nitrogen and
phosphorus into the aquatic environment
for many years. And, the farm has also
reduced its fertilizer costs.
“You have to keep chasing costs and
margins all the time. There’s no need to use
more fertilizer than is necessary to get a
certain yield,” says Håkan, acknowledging
an eagerness to test new technologies and
use them to their fullest.
In 2010, he and Teri Lee received an
acknowledgement of society’s gratitude for
their work in reducing agriculturally related eutrophication of the Baltic Sea. The
World Wildlife Fund honoured them with
the award “Baltic Farmer of the Year” along
with a cheque for 10,000 Euros.
“Climate Smart, but Not Organic” was
the headline in a Stockholm newspaper
that rarely covers agriculture. The reporter had earlier associated environmental
concerns with small-scale and organic farming. She was surprised by what she saw at
Wiggeby, which cultivates 600 hectares of
grains, silage, oilseeds and field peas.
A vista, which also greets representatives
from the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) Sweden when
Håkan and Teri Lee give them a tour of
the farm as newly-declared environmental
heroes.
A very visible sign of Wiggeby’s attitude
of sustainability is the compost of horse
manure steaming on that cold November
day just a short way down the road from
the main farm buildings.
Manure comes from farms on the islands
and around Stockholm. Some are among
the twenty or so farms that buy Wiggeby’s
haylage for horse feed.
“We want to be a strong local supplier.
Horse feed otherwise has a tendency to
travel by truck, very long distances,” says
Håkan.
Some of the phosphorus devoured by the
33
forage crops returns to Wiggeby as horse
manure.
“In time, we hope to attain about 50% of
our total phosphorus needs this way and
then recycle it.”
Today the farm has reduced the leeching
of nitrogen from its conventional farm to
the surrounding aquatic environment by
50 percent.
Håkan and Teri Lee have implemented
a series of measures that benefit both the
environment and the economy of the
farm: from growing a lot of grass in the
crop rotation cycle to the construction of a
phosphorus sediment pond.
In 2004, the Erikssons invested in an NSensor, a device that measures how much
nitrogen a crop needs and regulates the
application of fertilizer – a large technological leap regarding nitrogen utilization.
Tree stumps are the primary fuel in
4
34
What is good for
Wiggeby’s huge straw furnace which
supplies the farm with renewable energy.
Previously, the Erikssons also had pig
production at Wiggeby.
“When we had the pigs, we maintained
sustainability within the farm. Now the
sustainability is outside the farm, so we
perform a community service,” says Teri
Lee.
How much money can be saved by apply-
ing principles of sustainability as you have
done?
“Take the wheat crop as an example. You
can save 20-30 kilograms of nitrogen per
hectare. That calculates to a savings of approximately 200-300 SEK per hectare per
year. For a farm with 200 hectares of wheat
it could mean about 50,000 SEK each year.
And Håkan points out:
“We have done it without loss of yield or
quality.”
Gunilla Ander
Facts about Wiggeby:
The farm tills 600 hectares. Cultivated crops are mainly cereals, field peas, oilseeds and
silage/haylage for horses. 25 % of the area is forage grass.
The farm uses renewable energy through the burning of straw and tree stumps.
The business also includes contracted work and some forestry.
We strive to make
natural products
available
to everyone
www.arla.com
36
The forest industry
Good for the environment
Forestry is one of the most important industries in Sweden. It generates 3 percent of the Swedish gross national
product (GNP). The forest industry produces all sorts of
items, from paper, cardboard and tissue to sawn and planed wood, furniture and pellets for heating. Forests lower
carbon levels. Growing forests hold carbon dioxide and
products made of wood continue to store carbon dioxide
as long as they are in use. Wood can often be used instead
of less environmentally-friendly materials. The forest industry is Sweden´s largest producer and user of biofuels. 4
Large exports of wood products
The Swedish forest industry exported
products worth 129 billion SEK in 2010.
About 85 percentof the pulp and paper
produced in Sweden is exported. One
tenth of the paper demand in the EU is
covered by Swedish paper mills.
The production of paper in Great Britain, Germany and France is dependent
on imports of pulp from Sweden. Swedish
sawmills export about 70 percent of their
wood products. Great Britain is the largest
importer of sawn and planed wood from
Sweden and the second largest importer is
Egypt. Other large importers are Germany,
France, the Netherlands, the Middle East
and Japan.
In the last few years, the export of Swedish wood products to the Middle East has
increased greatly. In contrast, the USA now
imports far less as a result of the financial
crises.
Spruce and pine are the most common
trees
There are 22.5 million hectares of productive forest in Sweden. This is more
than half of the total land area. The most
common tree is spruce (the “Christmas”
tree) and pine is the second most common. They are both coniferous trees (with
needles).
Among the deciduous trees (with leaves),
birch is the most common. There are fo-
rests of beech and oak in the southern part
of the country. In Sweden, it is predominantly the conifers spruce and pine that are
used in the industry, which is in contrast
to, for example, the Baltic countries, where
a lot of deciduous trees are used.
In Sweden, business involving deciduous trees has the potential to be further
developed.
38 percent of forest owners are female
Approximately half of the forest land in
Sweden is owned by individuals. There are
more than 330,000 individual forest owners who own about 228,000 forest farms.
Around 38 percent of the forest owners are
women.
37
It is common that forest land is owned
collectively by several family members,
such as siblings or cousins. One trend is
that more and more people own forest
without living on the land. Out of all the
forest farms in Sweden, 26 % are owned by
persons who do not live on the farms but
in towns or cities instead. 6 % are owned
partly by persons not living on the farm.
A lot of the people who live on their forest
land also have agriculture.
The forest owners are divided as follows:
50 percent individuals, 26 percent privately-owned limited companies, 14 percent
state-owned limited companies, 6 percent
other private owners, 3 percent state and 1
percent other community owners.
4
38
The forest industry
Associations for forest owners are
popular
About 110,000 are members of forest owner associations, organized as producers’
cooperatives. All forest owner associations
can buy the harvested roundwood from
their members. Some forest owner associations have their own industry while others
sell all the raw material to the private
industry.
Forest owners can also choose to sell
what they harvest in their forests directly
to the industry. Well-known forest industry companies in Sweden are, for
example, SCA, Storaenso, Holmen, Billerud and Setra.
Special technique for harvesting
The trees are harvested by cut-to-length
logging, which means that the tree trunks
are cut in the forest to the lengths that the
sawmills specify. In Canada and the USA,
however, it is more common to transport
the whole tree trunks to the sawmills,
where cutting to the desired lengths take
place.
l
The 2010 prices of raw materials from the forest
(before deductions for the cost of harvesting)
were:
Logs for sawing in the wood industry – c. 600 SEK
per cubic metre
Logs for pulp to the paper industry – c. 300 SEK
per cubic metre
Branches and treetops for the energy industry – c.
250 SEK per cubic metre
Contacts:
The Swedish Forest Agency: Skogsstyrelsen www.skogsstyrelsen.se Press contact +46 470 72 61 29.
Link to statistical yearbook 2010 (statistisk årsbok) in Swedish and English: http://skogsstyrelsen.se/
Myndigheten/Statistik/Skogsstatistisk-Arsbok/Skogsstatistiska-arsbocker/
The Swedish Forest Industries Federation: Skogsindustrierna www.forestindustries.se
The Swedish Federation of Forest Owners: LRF Skogsägarna http://www.lrf.se/In-English/
39
Renewable energy
Sweden leads the way in Europe
Sweden is powered by a larger percentage of renewable
energy than the average in
Europe. In 2008, more than 44 percent of Sweden’s energy
was from renewable sources. The following are examples of
renewable energy sources: water power, wind power, forest
fuels, biogas and sun cells.
Wind power is growing
Wind power for the production of electricity was first introduced in Sweden in the
1980s. During the 21st century, wind turbines have become common in some areas
in Sweden, but there are far fewer than,
for example, in Denmark and Germany. In
2009, there were approximately 1,400 wind
turbines in Sweden and they represented 2
percent of the energy produced within the
country.
In Denmark, wind power makes up over
20 percent of energy production. Farmers
lease out land to the companies that want
to set up wind turbines and receive a payment of around 50,000-100,000 SEK per
turbine per year. It is often profitable for
farmers to lease out their land for wind 4
40
Renewable energy
power, but it can sometimes be difficult
to get permission from the authorities
because of, for example, neighbours. There
is also wind power in forest areas and wind
parks in the seas around Sweden.
Forest fuel gives forest owners profits
Sweden is covered by a lot of forest. When
forest owners harvest the trees, the thick
part of the trunk is sent to sawmills to be
turned into planks and boards. The thin
end of the trunks goes to pulp mills and
becomes paper. The tops and the branches
used to be left in the forest for the harvest
machines to drive over and use as fertilizer
for the soil. However, today it is becoming
more and more common to gather the
tops and branches and leave them to dry
in stacks. The material is then chipped and
burned in power plants. Over the last few
years, the selling of tops and branches has
started to give a modest profit to the forest
owners.
Pellets and straw
Some of the sawdust that is automatically
produced in sawmills is used to make
pellets, which many private persons and
farmers use to heat their houses. Pellets are
also used in power plants. Some farmers
heat their buildings by burning straw.
Stumps have potential
Even stumps, the roots of trees, have
started to be used for fuel in power plants.
So far, the technique is not very developed.
Therefore, only small areas are harvested
by forest companies. There is a lot of energy in stumps and that is why the harvesting of stumps will probably become more
common.
Energy crops
Farmers can grow, for example, energy
forests like willow for fuel in power plants
and grains for the production of ethanol.
In 2010, willow was grown on around
13,000 hectares of land. It is often land of
low quality that is used for growing willow,
not good farmland. The large farmers’
cooperative Lantmännen owns, among
other things, the company Agroetanol,
which uses around 550,000 tons of grains
to produce 210 million litres of ethanol per
year. There are numerous kinds of financial
support that farmers receive for growing or
otherwise investing in energy crops.
Biogas from the farm
Biogas is produced both on a small scale
by single farms and on a large scale by
companies. Farmers use manure and parts
of plants to make biogas to power their
farms. Groups of farmers produce biogas
that is used for heating buildings in local
communities. Biogas is also used to power
vehicles. About 1.5 terawatt hours of biogas
is produced in Sweden every year.
4
41
42
Renewable energy
Solar panels on barn roofs
Solar panels are just starting to be used in
Sweden, but it is not as common to have
them on barn roofs as it is, for example, in
Germany.
A wide variety
There are a large amount of companies and
projects working on producing different
types of renewable fuel. Among them is
the production of ethanol from cellulose,
the production of pine diesel and growing
hemp for heating.
Energy sources
Sweden used a total of 612 TWh (terawatt hours)
of energy in 2008. The energy came from these
sources:
Crude oil and oil products
194
Natural gas
10
Coal and coke
7
Bio fuels, peat, waste etc
123
Heating pumps
5.5
Water power
69
Nuclear power
184
Wind power
2
Export of electricity
2
Problems
Many farmers would like to lease land to
wind power companies. At the same time,
there is a relatively large resistance against
building more wind turbines in Sweden.
Lots of people, including farmers, think
that turbines that are built on neighbours’
land cause a disturbance and reduce the
value of their own properties. That creates
conflicts in the countryside. The organization Föreningen Svenskt Landskapsskydd
(The Swedish Association for the Protection of the Countryside) is working against
wind power.
Branches and tops from harvested
forests are good for burning in power
plants. The prices have in the last few
years reached a level where forest owners
can earn a small sum by selling what was
earlier regarded as waste. But it can be
bad business for the forest owner to take
branches and tops out of the forest. The
remains of the harvest fertilize the forest
and make the new forest grow better. If the
residue is taken out, it is necessary in many
cases to use fertilizer to compensate for the
loss.
l
Contacts:
Swedish Energy Agency: Energimyndigheten http://www.energimyndigheten.se/en/
The Federation of Swedish Farmers: LRF http://www.lrf.se/In-English/
Ethanol from crops: Agroetanol http://www.agroetanol.se/Short-in-English/
Ethanol from cellulose: SEKAB http://www.sekab.com/default.asp?id=1484
Diesel from pine: Sunpine http://www.sunpine.se/
44
Contract work
Contracting is an important source of income for Swedish
farmers. The turnover is just as much as for milk production.
One fifth of LRF’s 90,000 members engage in one type or
other of contract work. The most usual types of contract
work are building and construction, forestry and snow
removal.
Customers include everyone from the state and local
councils to construction firms, forestry companies, private
individuals and other farmers.
Contract work is generally reasonably profitable. It is still a fairly competitive market
with many participants, especially in the
densely populated areas.
An increasingly important source of
income
During certain times of the year there is a
need, as well as the time, for other forms
of work for Swedish farmers. Therefore,
there are more and more farmers carrying
out contract work in addition to farming.
In 2007, there were around 13,500 of LRF’s
members who had business through contract work. Only two years later, the figure
had grown to 17,000.
Equipment
The larger farms, which consist of more
than 200 hectares of arable land, are the
most likely to invest in new equipment for
contract work. They have a lot of staff who
must be employed all the time in order to
avoid redundancies. Therefore, contract
work is a suitable activity.
Smaller farms with fewer employees
often invest less in machinery. These
smaller companies invest in, for example,
small excavators, loaders or equipment for
snow removal. Usually, the existing stock
of machines for farming is used to carry
out other tasks. For instance, a farming
tractor can move snow very well if fitted
with the right equipment for the task, or
drive soil and gravel if a dumper truck is
obtained.
Organizations
Most farmers sell their services directly to
the customer, but there are also some organizations which help to pass on contract
work for farmers.
The largest ones are Maskinringarna
and Farmartjänst. There are approxima-
tely 3,500 people enlisted with Farmartjänst.
There is also the possibility to hire out
oneself. Through Maskinringarna, one can
get a job manually clearing snow-covered
roofs.
Manufacturing
In Sweden, there are several manufacturers
of machines and equipment. The most
well-known is probably Volvo, which,
among other things, produces wheel
loaders, excavators (diggers) and dumper
trucks. Also, Ljungby Maskin has its own
manufacture of wheel loaders.
Swedish company Abelco has taken a
large share of the market by designing their
own construction machinery, although
they are then manufactured in China.
There are also well-known manufacturers of accessories and equipment; for
example, Indexator and Steel Wrist, which
45
manufacture rotators for diggers and
forestry machinery. Trelleborg is one of
the world’s most well-known tyre manufacturers and Atlas Copco makes, among
other things, equipment for drilling and
rock work.
Many good manufacturers have also
arisen from the Swedish forestry industry.
Among others, the Japanese company
Komatsu and the US company John Deere
manufacture machines which are developed in Sweden. There are even whollySwedish companies which conduct their
own development and manufacture. For
example, Gremo in Ätran has developed
a radio controlled harvester which goes
under the name “Besten”, “The Beast”.
The heyday of the chainsaw is possibly
over but the classic chainsaw manufacturer, Husqvarna, has branched out and also
makes equipment for the building industry
and for professional landscape gardening. l
46
Horses
Horses generate money
The horse business has a turnover of about 22 billion SEK
per year. Around half of that comes from betting and approximately 3 billion SEK is produced within farming.
Horses create job opportunities and income for farmers,
who lease stalls, produce feed and take care of the manure.
There are about 360,000 horses in Sweden, which is one
of the most horse dense countries in Europe in regards
to the number of horses per inhabitant. Three quarters of
Sweden’s horses are found within larger towns or in areas
close to towns. Few horses are used for physical labour in
farming and forestry.
11,000 year-round jobs
Work opportunities with horses are equivalent to 11,000 year-round jobs, which are
found in:
Farming businesses Trotting sport
Riding sport 3,200
2,870
1,950
The most common year-round professions in the horse industry are:
Riding coach Breeder Farmer Groom 1,515
2,870
1,200
1,175
Two native breeds
Sweden has two native breeds of horse.
One is the North Swedish, which is a heavy
47
draught horse and the other is the Gotland
pony, which is a medium-sized pony from
the island of Gotland.
The most common riding horse is the
Swedish Warmblood, SWB. Swedish riders
have been very successful on SWB horses
in sports like dressage and show jumping.
Some SWB horses have been exported to,
for example, the USA.
Betting and slaughter
Trotting is a bigger sport than racing (gallop) in Sweden. There is betting on both
sports. Hobby sports such as “western”
riding and competing in special events and
categories for Icelandic horses are on the
increase. There is an organization working
to transfer old trotting horses into riding 4
48
Horses
horses for trail riding and riding schools.
Previously, it was common to send old
trotting horses by truck to Italy for slaughter. The trips were often very tough for
the horses. Slaughter of horses is allowed
in Sweden, in contrast to, for example,
the USA. Horses are not bred for meat
consumption, which exists, for instance, in
France.
Problems
In Sweden there is something called the
public right of way, which means it is legal
for everyone to walk in nature on other
peoples’ land as long as they do not cause
any damage. Many riders ride in the forest
on stubble from harvested crops and on
roadsides, where it does not harm the land.
However, sometimes there is damage
to tree roots on the paths that many riders
use. Some riders think that a field with
fresh winter wheat is simply grass that is
suitable to ride on. An increasing number
of horse owners has resulted in a growing
number of conflicts between riders and
landowners.
There are a few thousand breeders of the
Swedish Warmblood horse, SWB. Most of
them only have 1–2 mares. Approximately
100 breeders have more than 5 mares and
very few have 20 mares. The majority of
breeders aim to produce a horse that will
be a star in competitions, but it is very
rare to succeed. That leads to a surplus of
horses with a more spirited temperament
than the hobby rider would wish.
It costs around 35,000 SEK to breed
and raise a foal to the age of 6 months and
it can be difficult for a breeder to get that
price selling the foal. As a result, many
breeders do not make any money from
their breeding.
l
Contacts:
Swedish Board of Agriculture: Jordbruksverket http://www.jordbruksverket.se/swedishboardofagriculture.
4.6621c2fb1231eb917e680002462.html
The Horse Industry National Foundation
Hästnäringens Nationella Stiftelse 08-627 20 00
The Federation of Swedish Farmers: LRF http://www.lrf.se/In-English/
49
Tourism and hunting
Staying overnight on a farm
Agriculture tourism has an estimated
500,000 guest nights per year. There are
both longer stays, such as self-catering accommodation and Bed & Breakfasts (B&Bs)
to choose from. About 300 farms are members of the organization Bo på Lantgård,
which was set up in 1989. The organization
helps connect tourists with farmers who
can offer farm stays in the countryside. The
farms within Bo på Lantgård have around
200,000 guest nights per year.
Trail riding on horseback
Trail riding on horses can be found in most
parts of Sweden. It can range from trips
lasting a couple of hours to a whole week
of riding from place to place. Common
breeds of horse are the domestic North
Swedish and the smaller Icelandic horse
from Iceland.
Hunting trips
In Sweden there is plenty of both large and
small game. It is principally the landowner
who has the hunting rights on his or her
land and can charge others to hunt there.
The times when you are allowed to hunt
are regulated by the state and there are
limits as to the number of certain types
of game you are allowed to shoot, for
example, moose.
4
50
Popular animals to hunt for foreign
hunters are moose in all parts of Sweden,
grouse in Northern Sweden and deer and
pheasant in Southern Sweden. The number
of wild boar has increased rapidly up to the
area north of Stockholm. Within the hunting community there are hopes that the
wild boar will become an attractive game
for hunters from abroad.
During the hunting season 2008-2009,
about 264,000 people purchased the
hunting licence needed to hunt in Sweden.
14,500 of them were women. The number
of foreign hunters was 23,000; half of them
came from Denmark. The other foreign
hunters are mainly from Germany, Finland
and Norway.
Problems
The number of wild boar is increasing
faster than the hunters can control them.
Many farmers have problems with wild
boar ripping up field crops. The harvest is
destroyed and machinery is also affected
when stones that the wild boar have spread
about get into the machines.
Sometimes, landowning neighbours
are interested in having a large number
of wild boar to hunt. They place feed
on their land to attract the animals and
make their numbers increase. Therefore,
conflicts between landowners with different views on the wild boar are common.
LRF, The Swedish Federation of Farmers,
is working on making the landowners
and hunters in large areas cooperate and
create a long-term management of the
wild boar.
A problem for organizers of horseback
tours is that the standard of accommodation and food on the farms is often too low
to attract foreign tourists. Riding tourists
from other countries that can afford to buy
a horse riding trip abroad commonly have
high demands for luxury accommodation
plus top quality food and drink.
l
Contacts:
Swedish Hunters Association: Svenska Jägareförbundet www.jagareforbundet.se
English version at: http://www.jagareforbundet.se/Utbildning/Hunting-in-sweden/
Association for farm stays: Bo på Lantgård www.bopalantgard.org
English http://fm.publicum.se/BPL2/BPL.lasso?Val=BpLs01&Sprak=GB&ID=&KodTyp=&Kod=
The Federation of Swedish Farmers:LRF http://www.lrf.se/In-English/
Horticulture
The horticultural sector has for many years been used to
fierce competition from imports and problems with high
costs for energy and other supplies.
The size of the outdoor cultivation area and the number of
greenhouses has remained steady in recent years.
However, the number of holdings has decreased steadily
since the 1980s and the surviving companies are getting
bigger. The value of Swedish horticulture production was
almost 3.5 billion SEK in 2009 with an increase of 5%
from 2008.
4
51
52
Horticulture
Outdoor cultivation of vegetables,
fruit and berries
The total outdoor cultivation area was
almost 12,000 hectares in 2008, and the
number of holdings with an average of 7.2
hectares was less than 1,700. Fewer than
300 holdings account for 70% of the total
cultivation.
Vegetables account for almost 60% of
this area, the dominating crops being carrot,
lettuce and onion. Fruit, mainly apples, represents 15% of the outdoor cultivation area
and berries, primarily strawberries, 22%.
The area for apple has decreased greatly
during the last 20 years but the yields have
increased even more, so the total production has instead risen.
The explanation for this is new methods and more trees per hectare. The yield
of strawberries per hectare is 6 tonnes.
Finally, outdoor cultivation of nurseries
accounts for about 4% of the total outdoor
cultivation area. Greenhouses for production of vegetables and ornamental plants
In 2008, the total greenhouse area was
2,657,000 m2 and the number of holdings
with an average greenhouse area of 3,400
m2 was almost 800. The greenhouses are
mainly found in the south and close to the
big cities Stockholm and Gothenburg.
Cultivation of vegetables in greenhouses
is dominated by tomatoes and cucumbers.
Together, they account for 76% of the
area reserved for vegetables and berries in
greenhouses and for 34% of the total area
cultivated in greenhouses.
The yield per unit area in 2008 was 44
tonnes per 1,000 m2 for tomato and 37 tons
per 1,000 m2 for cucumber. The greenhouse
area for aromatic plant production has
increased by 47% during recent years (from
2005–2008) and makes aromatic plants the
third largest group of greenhouse produced
eatable crops after cucumber and tomato.
The cultivation of cut flowers has
decreased dramatically during the last
20 years and approximately only 40,000
m2 remains. Almost 42 million potted
plants are produced yearly and 140 million
bulbous plants are produced as cut flowers
or potted plants. There is also a production of about 44 million bedding plants in
greenhouses as well as the cultivation of 86
million cuttings and small plants.
A small sector, its organizations and
wholesalers
Horticulture holdings employ only about
17,000 persons in total of which about a
third are owners and family members.
The horticultural producers used to
have their own association but have now
completely merged with LRF, the Federation of Swedish Farmers. Some mem-
53
bers fear that this will result in problems
within the horticultural sector losing focus
and drowning among bigger and more
powerful interests groups. To sell their
products in a more efficient way to bigger
wholesalers, many horticultural producers
cooperate with economic associations of
which the important ones are: Norrgrönt,
Mellansvenska Odlare Ekonomisk Förening, Svenska Odlarlaget and Sydgrönt
The biggest wholesalers for fruit and
vegetables are
•
•
•
Everfresh
ICA Frukt och Grönt
SABA Frukt och Grönt
Useful link:
www.jordbruksverket.se / international
Sources:
The 2008 Horticultural Census (JO 37 SM 1001), Swedish Board of Agriculture
Horticultural survey 2009. Quantity and value of production for 2009 (JO 28 SM 1002), Swedish Board
of Agriculture
l
54
The grocery retail trade
The grocery retail trade had sales worth a total of 192.4 billion SEK in 2009. The growth from the year before was 5.5
percent. The trade is dominated by a few large chains.
The market shares between the largest
chains in Sweden:
ICA Coop Axfood Bergendahls Lidl Vi Netto 50.3%
20.6%
15.7%
5.7%
3.0%
2.6%
2.1%
ICA is the giant with over 50 percent of the
market and a total of 1,359 stores (December 2009). It started as collaboration
between independent retailers – a model
that is still prevalent in ICA Sweden. ICA
also has its own and retailer-owned stores
in Norway, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Coop's grocery retail trade is owned by
the consumers’ cooperative movement, the
KF group (Swedish Cooperative Union)
or directly by 42 consumers’ societies. The
consumers’ movement has over 3 million
individual members running 863 stores
(2009) all over the country.
The Axfood group is listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Axfood manages
food retail and wholesale trade. It has fullyowned stores/chains under the names of
Willys and Hemköp but it also collaborates
with a large number of proprietor-run stores. The total number of stores is 1,070.
The Bergendahl group is a familyowned commercial house with trading
operations in the food, fashion and home
decoration sectors. Within the food sector,
Bergendahls runs 31 fully-owned super-
55
markets under the names of Citygross and
Eco. Bergendahls also operates wholesale
distribution to independent retailers, including a new group of retailers called the
Food Rebels, among others.
Lidl is a German chain that came to
Sweden about 7 years ago and now has
more than 140 stores. Vi-butikerna is a
voluntary retail food chain consisting of
60 stores, which are owned by the merchants. Netto is a Danish chain that came
to Sweden in 2002 and now has about 100
stores.
In addition, food is also sold at gas stations and other small convenience stores.
Private labels
The chains’ private labels are relatively
new phenomena in Sweden and have been
much discussed among Swedish farmers
during the last 15 years. The share of private brands has increased but now appears
to be levelling out and remains today at
about 27 percent (2009), which is a lower
share than in many other Western European countries like Germany (40%) and
the UK (48%).
Rural grocery stores disappear
The number of grocery stores is quickly
decreasing and has done so for quite a long
time. Between 1996 and 2010, the
number of stores reduced by 24%. Small
stores decreased even more, by 64%. This
is especially a problem in rural areas where
the nearest grocery store can be far away, 4
56
The grocery retail trade
bus lines are few and car ownership a
necessity.
Growth is focused on large supermarkets and on heavy discounts. Between 2006
and 2010, the supermarkets’ share of total
grocery sales grew from 28% to 37% of
total sales.
Organic food in Swedish grocery stores
It is becoming more common to be environmentally conscious and buy organic
products. New ecological and eco-labelled
products are introduced constantly in the
market and more and more traders choose
to sell organic products. About 90% of
grocery stores today offer an organic line.
In total, however, the organic range is only
about 3% of total grocery sales.
The KRAV association is a key player
in the organic market in Sweden and the
KRAV labelling is well known among Swedish consumers. Other well-known and
much used eco-labels are the Nordic Eco
label and the EU Eco label.
l
Useful links:
www.ica.se/Om-ICA/Eng-sektion/This_is_the_ICA_Group/
www.coop.se/Globala-sidor/In-english/
www.axfood.se/en/About-Axfood/
www.bergendahls.se/
http://www.svenskhandel.se/Om-Svensk-Handel/Swedish-Trade-Federation---Svensk-Handel-/
www.dlf.se
www.krav.se (Pictures of the logos can be downloaded from the home pages and shown as illustrations.)
www.ecolabel.se

Crop cultivation - International Federation of Agricultural Journalists

Transcription

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