This thesis examines the underlying components that affect consumer behavior regarding organic food. The thesis theoretical framework is based on Ajzen and Fishbein?s The Theory of Reasoned Action combined with theories regarding involvement and routine purchases. The empirical material is based on a desk research with 19 research papers between the years 1994 till 2009 and sales statistics over organic food.  The thesis conclusion shows that the underlying components when looking at attitude towards conventional food are price, taste, expiration-date and healthfulness. While the components for involvement in organic food is the environment, personal health and supply.

During 2008 we experienced an expansion of large scale investments in foreign farmland. This increasing trend has become a political hot-spot, but there is not much research available within the field. Due to a lack of research it remains a vital task to outline the potential effects of this trend. Drawing on existing ideas from some of the main actors within the field, The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), The World Bank, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the latest G8 summit on agriculture, four main purposes are set out for this paper. First, to outline some of the underlying mechanisms behind the trend is considered crucial for the understanding of the nature of these investments.

Most of us sometimes in life visit a restaurant to relax and eat some good food. In that case, we trust that the food they are serving is of good quality and safe which prevent food poisoning. As a consumer you mostly do not have any insight what?s happening in the kitchen at the restaurant. What is really going on when they prepare the food? An introduction of the Smiley system could help you as a consumer in the choice of restaurant.

Climate change is a global and slow process that affects humans all over the world. Climate adaption within agriculture is important to reduce the risks that agricultures are exposed to because of climate change.  Through climate adaption you can improve the positive effects and take advantage of them optimally. How the climate change affects agricultures varies depending on regions and societies. The purposes of the study are to examine how different actors experience the impacts of climate change on the agriculture in Värmland.

Cambodia is located in Southeast Asia with a tropical monsoon climate and distinctive wet and dry seasons. Poverty is a widespread problem in Cambodia and 30 percent of the population were classified as poor in 2009. About 80 percent of the populations live in rural areas where poverty is an even greater problem. In agriculture, rice cultivation is dominating and the crop is cultivated on 85 percent of the arable land. Livestock keeping is also a traditional part of Cambodian agriculture.

The agriculture in Sweden today uses chemical substances to control vermin, weed and diseases. This usage shows through polluted subsoil water and trace elements in the food we eat. There?s a risk that additional symptoms will arise in the future. Our product Sha Jun, developed in 2006-2007, is an attempt to try and minimize the need of chemicals in the agriculture. The idea started with the attempt to minimize the usage of pesticides on the cropland.

One of the main objectives of all food production is to produce foods that can safely beconsumed without fear of being sick. Despite this hundreds of people are affected in Sweden offood poisoning almost every day. Most cases are caused by a small group of so-called pathogenicmicroorganisms. The most frequently affected are the small children, the elderly, persons withreduced resistance and pregnant. The reasons behind the food poisoning are often ignorance andlack of food hygiene.

The majority of the Swedish population were self-provided within agriculture a hundred years ago. Times do change and today the situation is the other way around - most of us live within city boundaries and only few work with farming and related agricultural businesses. One thing that has not changed though, is the need of supplies from Swedish agriculture.What do we think of those products? Are we even aware of the connection between us and agriculture? The Federation of Swedish Farmers, LRF (Lantbrukarnas riksförbund), started their project to strengthen the link between consumers and producers in 2008.This paper is part of the project and its aim is to investigate consumers' views and values upon the effects and products from Swedish agriculture.Opinions and values have been studied through interviews influenced by phenomenology. The results show that the informants in general had a positive approach and thinking concerning the products and effects from Swedish agriculture.

Aims The aim of this study was to investigate how personnel within food control are regarded from different perspectives and to find the answers to the sub questions:- what is included in the profession of food control?- what are the requirements for personnel within the profession of food control?- how is the profession perceived from different perspectives?- how do personnel within the profession of food control estimate their psycho social working conditions?Method The study included 68 individuals (34 female and 34 male) and was conducted via observations, web-based surveys and survey-based interviews. Conclusion - The study was feasible.- The overall goal of the study as well as the research questions were answered to and contributed to clarify what is included in the profession of food control. - Quality measures should be implemented to greater extent within the development of the national food control system..

In this paper discourse analysis on the Ethiopian National Action Program (NAP) to combat desertification is made. The aim is to describe how the overall image/picture of desertification, its causes, and effects and of possible solutions are presented in the NAP. The result of this analysis shows that the main cause of desertification is human activities mainly due to the poorly developed socio-economic situation in the dryland areas. It is indicated that an excessive dependency of the rural population on the natural resources, particularly land, is the major cause of land degradation and this deterioration of land is said to have been caused by the rapid population growth, overgrazing, forest clearing as well as past government and institutional failures. In addition it is indicated that the effect of desertification usually involves ecological changes that sap land of its ability to sustain agriculture and human habitation, therefore the most serious threat to human welfare.

The rise in prevalence and severity of obesity and related diseases imposes increasing costs on society. The objective of this thesis is to discuss and estimate the possible effects of a so-called fat tax as a tool for minimizing these costs. Two alternatives for differentiation of the value-added tax (VAT) on food are compared. The first alternative is an increase of the VAT levied on food containing saturated fatty acids. The second alternative is a subsidy on fruit and vegetables in the form of a VAT at zero percent, instead of today?s twelve percent.

Göbekli Tepe is an 11000 year old religious center where Totem has been exercised. It was raised by megalithic hunters and collectors that still during the construction lived in small-scaled mobile groups in order to find food and therefore should not have had time to raised costly stone monuments. The religious center consists of four enclosures with two T-pillars decorated with pictures of different animals and birds. Any dwellings have not been found. The place has been constructed by a well-organized elitist organization that has been capable of raising constructions in order to exercise their religion in a way we did not thought was possible such a long time ago. Analysis and findings from the near east existing from this time shows however that social changes happen in the communities around the region. Can archeological finding from the excavations on the religious center give any answer or clue regarding how man came to develop from hunter and collector to farmer? Do the findings reveal that the religion has changed Mans way to think and organize so that she was prepared to introduce the agriculture that occurs? The aim of thesis is to clarify whether Göbekli Tepe has played any role in the complex origin of agriculture..

Background: Over the past 30 years the incidence of overweight and obesity has increased. Obesity is a risk factor for many diseases, for instance type 2 Diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, many types of cancer and musculoskeletal diseases. That ready available food today is so accessible can be a reason for the public health problems of overweight and obesity.Objective: The aim was to study what possibilities and barriers there are for fast-food restaurants to sell healthy food.Methods: Information was collected by seven telephone interviews and two respondents answered by e-mail. Nine persons that were in charge of the menu at different fast-food restaurant chains in Sweden participated in the study.Results: To have a large variety was considered to be a problem for selling healthy food, also because the sale of it was low in some of the fast-food chains. Some of the informants did not find any problems with selling healthy food and it was regarded as an opportunity to get more consumers.Conclusion: The demand for healthier food has increased, and the offer and sales of it has also escalated.

In the Maasai Mara National Reserve the native people, the Maasai, have lived for a long time following their own traditions. Their traditional lifestyle is that of a nomadic people, leading their cattle to the best grazing. Sharing their land with a large variation of different animals, one of them being the African Elephant (Loxodonta africana), the Maasi people have since long adapted to a life side by side with these giants, as well as the fierce predators living in the area.The aim of this study is to determine whether the Maasai settlement, known as Boma, has any impact on the elephants in the surrounding area. In order to conclude whether the bomas has an impact or not, observations of the wildlife were carried out. Observations were conducted in two different seasons, in December 2003 and May/June in 2004.

The aim of this essay is to analyze how food and meals produce and reproduce values and power relations and how these processes are portrayed in Virginia Woolf?s To the Lighthouse. Using sociological writings in the field of food consumption and production I study the structures that affect our relation to food and eating. This perspective is combined with a phenomenological view, aiming to examine how food is perceived, which is also inspired by queer theories. Using the method of close reading, the theories are applied to Woolf?s work.