In this report female farmers use of technical equipment is investigated. There is little research made on this subject in Sweden, therefore this report can be seen as an explorative study. Research makes it clear that machinery, throughout history and even today, has been seen as a male area. Heavy machines are often associated with the same attributes as masculinity. Force, power, efficiency and control are some examples.

This thesis is made by Carl Persson and Alejandro Saavedra for Gryaab. Gryaab is Gothenburg?s water processing plant and produces about 60 GWh biogas annually with a flow around 1150 Nm3/h. Gryaab wants to research their possibilities to become independent with electrical energy and the possibilities to enrich, upgrade biogas. The use of methane rich gases like biogas and natural gas is today low in Sweden compared to major parts of the world.

In this report female farmers use of technical equipment is investigated. There is little research made on this subject in Sweden, therefore this report can be seen as an explorative study. Research makes it clear that machinery, throughout history and even today, has been seen as a male area. Heavy machines are often associated with the same attributes as masculinity. Force, power, efficiency and control are some examples.

In this report female farmers use of technical equipment is investigated. There is little research made on this subject in Sweden, therefore this report can be seen as an explorative study. Research makes it clear that machinery, throughout history and even today, has been seen as a male area. Heavy machines are often associated with the same attributes as masculinity. Force, power, efficiency and control are some examples.

The study was performed for the Swedish Regional Forestry Board in Södra Götaland. The study examines broadleaf plantations on former farmland that were planted between 1991 and 1996 with subsidy payments for conversion of farmland into forest. In particular, the study reviews forests planted in 1991-92 and 1994-96. In the early 1990s, Swedish agriculture was deregulated and direct subsides to farmers ended. The Swedish state instead granted farmers financial support and offered incentives for conversion of farmland and investments in order to make their unproductive land productive. The state supported conversion of farmland to broadleaf forest, forest for energy biomass production, or establishment of wetlands on former farmland. The County Administrative Boards and Regional Forestry Boards together monitored the planting of broadleaf forests.

As a member of the EU, Sweden has, in some cases, transferred the controlling rights to the Union. This means that the rules defined by the EU must be followed in all member countries, including Sweden. The European Agricultural policy constitutes the largest part of the EU's annual budget and is in contrast to many other areas fully funded at EU level. The last decade, many new regulations on chemicals and pesticides have been introduced which brought great changes and a lot of work throughout the Union, including Sweden. Sweden has always had a strict policy on chemicals and has been at the forefront when it comes to sustainable agriculture and environmental management.

The Swedish carrot market is dominated by a few big companies and three of them stands for 50 % of the market. During the last twenty years the number of growers has decreased, the area and the harvest have increased. The big producers have invested in advanced and expensive postharvest equipment that fulfils the high standards of the food industry. Few carrot producers are members of an organisation and they keep contacts with there buyers one by one. The buyers are mostly wholesalers and these have during a long period of time decreased the number of suppliers.

During the summer of 2005 a number of steer producers in Skåne, Sweden, found that their animals graded less favourable according to the EUROP carcass grading system when slaughtered, than ordinary. The aim with this project was to determine factors that affects the production result in steer production and to find the reason to the lower classification. The project was initiated by Anita Persson, LRF, Skåne and was preformed with supervision from Ingemar Olsson, SLU, and Jens Fjelkner, Skånesemin. Ten producers of dairy steers located in Skåne was chosen for this study. The producers were interviewed to collect information about their steer production with respect to their planning and results.

Forest enterprises have always searched for ways to improve efficiency. For the past few years there has been an emphasis on stock-keeping levels. Increased demand for fresh round timber and the need to decrease the amount of tied-up capital has made the forest industry reduce its inventory levels. This has brought on a higher demand on the timber supply from the forest management districts concerning both delivery in time and assortment output. As a result, the flow of timber has fluctuated a lot with serious consequence for the timber supply during 1994.

This MSc thesis is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the need for information from forest campartments selected for clear cutting, in connection with planning in an integrated forest- and sawmill enterprise. A review of literature is followed by a case stud y, where present conditions in a Swedish forest company are compared with current research in the area. The seeond part consists of a simulation stud y, which aims at camparing the accuracy of inventory estimates using different methods. The estimates are delivery forecasts, covering one month consumptian of timber in a large sawmill.

Fördelarna med skogssådd är bland annat att de kan ge stamtäta bestånd med potential att producera träd med bra vedegenskaper och bättre utvecklade rotsystem samt att sådder har en högre biomassaproduktion per ytenhet jämfört med planteringar. Nackdelar som kan nämnas är att de ofta täta förbanden ger ökade kostnader vid eventuella röjningar och att föryngringsresultatet är mera osäkert för sådd än för plantering.Mekaniseringen av skogssådden startade under 1970-talet. Humax och KSM är två kranspetsmonterade aggregat för skogssådd. De har utvecklats för att användas på marker med svår ytstruktur där dragna såddaggregat som harv och högläggare har svårigheter att skapa tillräckligt mycket lämplig såddbädd på grund av att aggregatet inte kommer ner mellan hindren eller att basmaskinen inte klarat av att köra över hela arealen. Fördelen med KSM och Humax är att aggregaten är kranspetsmonterade vilket gör att föraren väljer var aggregatet skall markbereda och på det viset kan markberedningen göras mellan hindren samt att kranarmens räckvidd gör att basmaskinen inte behöver köra över hela arealen som skall markberedas.

Som ett led i de åtaganden som ställs på de länder som har undertecknat Kyotoprotokolletmåste landvisa kolbudgetar fastställas. För att fastlägga bra kolbudgetar ärdet viktigt att kunna göra bra uppskattningar av kolmängden inom olika geografiskaområden. Detta dels för att kunna uppskatta befintliga mängder och dels för att kunnapåvisa förändringar över tiden.Denna studie hade som huvudmål att uppskatta kolmängden i trädform inom ett 28,3hektar stort, hundraårigt skogsområde vid Norunda i Uppland. Den metod somanvändes medför relativt låga krav på utrustning och förkunskaper. Metoden byggerpå att trädens brösthöjdsdiameter, höjd och kronlängd mäts in inom ett antalmätplottar.

Ett ökat brukande av skog enligt skötselprinciper som leder till skiktade beståndsstrukturer, en blandad trädslagssammansättning och kontinuerligt skogbeklädd mark har potential att öka den biologiska mångfalden och värdet för rekreation (Emborg m.fl. 2000, Berg m.fl. 1995, Mattsson & Li 1994, Holgen m.fl. 2000). I ljuset av detta, tillsammans med svårigheterna som finns att nå goda ekonomiska resultat vid skötsel av ädellövskog (Lindén & Ekö 2002), ses det idag som angeläget att uppmärksamma och studera alternativa skogsskötselmetoder (Cedergren 2008) . I östra Blekinge har ett antal skogsägare under längre tid praktiserat en metod att sköta naturligt föryngrad ek i blandbestånd som går ut på att, mer eller mindre tidigt, frihugga ekhuvudstammar, och att dana kvalitet genom stamkvistning/beskärning.