Texture is an important soil property and accurate particle size analysis of soil texture is therefore crucial. There are a number of well-established and newly developed methods available for determining soil texture. In order to compare the results of these methods, the differences between them must be determined. The difficulties, problems and differences regarding texture class determination were examined through a study performed on forest soil samples. The study compared different methods (pipette, hydrometer and field methods) and two types of dispersing agents (sodium pyrophosphate and sodium hexametaphosphate (calgon)) commonly used for particle size analysis.

The forests in Sweden have, for a long time, been managed intensively. This has led to even-aged stands with few tree species and a lack of dead wood. Therefore, general conservation measures in connection with regeneration felling are important in order to promote biodiversity. Inventories carried out by the Swedish Forest Agency, however, show that about 25 % of the felled area does not reach the level of the Forestry Act, regarding general conservation measures. The aim of my study was to see whether exemptions from the six week notice of reporting regeneration fellings (the Forest Agency demands a report six weeks in advance of fellings), affect the results of the general conservation measures taken.

The Swedish dairy sector is facing several challenges the coming years. One big challenge is how they will secure the access of their raw material milk in the future. The number of milk producers has decreased for an extended period of time, but was for a long time partly compensated by an increased productivity among the remaining milk producers. From year 2000 that trend was broken and also the quantity of milk produced started to fall quickly. Milko is a dairy company with members from Dalsland in the south to Jämtland in the north. During the first seven moths 2007, their number of members decreased by almost a fourth, from 1 272 to 974.

Today?s farmers are constantly affected by the fluctuating world market prices on grain and thereby the price risk that comes with the price fluctuations. The volatile prices of grain increase the price risk within the business, which in turn affects the profitability of the business. The fluctuating prices together with the increased price risk within the farm business have opened up the market for hedging instruments. In this master thesis project, the aim is to identify the underlying end-values of 30 Swedish farmers? related to their choice of using hedging and the product; forward contract.

Leasing som finansieringsmetod för lantbruksmaskiner är ingen ny företeelse men har inte slagit igenom i Sverige på samma sätt som i en del andra länder. Intresset för leasing är svagt i Sverige varpå det är av intresse att undersöka hur lantbrukare resonerar kring finansieringsmetoder för investeringar. Syftet med uppsatsen är att analysera om varför leasing inte används av lantbrukare i större utsträckning. Arbetet är uppbyggt på två delar, en teoretisk referensram där relevanta teorier och tidigare forskning beaktas, och en empirisk del där resultatet från beräkningar gällande leasing och finansiering av banklån presenteras. I det empiriska avsnittet redovisas fyra intervjuer med lantbrukare. Efter att val av metod, redovisas urval av respondenter och en beskrivning av hur intervjuerna har genomförts.

Ekonomibyggnader är en förutsättning för lantbruksproduktionen och underhåll bör således vara en central angelägenhet i ett lantbruksföretag. I perioder med sämre ekonomi, då företa-gare måste se över sina kostnader, är det möjligt att underhåll och investeringar får stå till-baka. Om underhållet på mjölkgårdens stallbyggnader och byggnadsinventarier negligeras kan det leda till att omfattande reparationer eller nyinvesteringar krävs för att kunna fortsätta produktionen. Sådana åtgärder är vanligtvis dyrare än förebyggande underhåll samtidigt som en förutsättning för att vara rationell som mjölkproducent är att hålla kostnaderna nere. Ge-nom att hålla kostnaderna nere idag och skjuta på underhållet kan de framtida kostnaderna öka vilket mjölkföretag eventuellt inte klarar av med marginalerna i mjölkbranschen. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vad som påverkar mjölkföretagarens beslut att un-derhålla ladugård och ladugårdsinventarier samt öka förståelsen för den ekonomiska betydel-sen som underhåll medför i ett mjölkföretag.

The Swedish building and property management sector are responsible for about 30 % of the total energy use. In order to take environmental consideration, different environmental assessment tools and standards are used. Miljo?byggnad, Svanen, FEBY12 and PHI are some of these. There has been increased interest to certify buildings and therefore it is of interest to evaluate the assessment of the energy field to see if relevant energy aspects are assessed.

The aim of this paper was to study incoming complaints to The County Administrative Board in Västra Götaland during 2011 and examine if it was possible to see a connection between warranted and unwarranted complaints and informer, animal species and type of inadequate. In Västra Götaland, a complaint is classified as warranted if the inspection leads to a reprimand, whether it regards what was reported or not. Data were collected during three weeks through The County Administrative Board´s record system Platina and a total of 456 complaints were studied. The parameter ?complainant? was categorized into four groups according to The County Administrative Boards own division; public with the subgroups anonymous and non-anonymous, animal health staff and others.

With the farming methods of the past century the agricultural landscape has changed. This has led to the fact that many habitats and species have been significantly reduced. Sweden is committed to the preservation of biodiversity through various conventions and laws. In the EU's Common Agricultural Policy there are currently agro-environmental schemes, which were created as an instrument for reducing the negative impacts of agriculture on nature and environment. Within this system any farmer who perform environmental measures are financially compensated for this.

When single-family lots are valued for development of new residential areas,the valuation is influenced by several factors. The valuation is a matter ofdefinition that varies according to its interpreter. Previous research conductedin other countries, has identified a number of value-influencing factors. Thesefactors are the basis for this study.The study's purpose is to highlight the value-influencing factors thatcustomers value and are looking for in the choice of single-family lots. Thestudy also seeks to determine if there is an unknown difference between howprofessionals and clients value single-family lots.The study showed that the value factors considered important for customersand also professionals are consistent and applicable with the factors reportedfrom previous research.

Sigill Quality Systems has been certifying beef since the autumn of 2006 using the brand name label Swedish Sigill. IP Sigill (the certifying system for integrated production) encompasses the values: animal ethics, food safety, free range and environmental concerns. Product quality is not yet one of these values, and there is a variation in the quality of Swedish beef. Swedish Sigill wanted to investigate the factors that influence product quality, review which of the present regulations that have an influence on product quality and formulate new regulations with the purpose of enhancing the product quality (sensorial, technological and nutritional quality). A survey of quality parameters and factors that influence product quality was done in order to establish a scientific foundation to work from.

With the farming methods of the past century the agricultural landscape has changed. This has led to the fact that many habitats and species have been significantly reduced. Sweden is committed to the preservation of biodiversity through various conventions and laws. In the EU's Common Agricultural Policy there are currently agro-environmental schemes, which were created as an instrument for reducing the negative impacts of agriculture on nature and environment. Within this system any farmer who perform environmental measures are financially compensated for this.

Establishing a reference interval for plasma fibrinogen in foals Fibrinogen concentrations were analysed in EDTA preserved blood plasma samples from 34 thoroughbred foals born in 2001 and 2002 at one stud farm. The foals were between 0 and 240 days old at the time of the sampling, and there were 19 fillies and 12 stallions in the group. The foals were examined for clinical symptoms of disease and their body temperature was measured before blood was sampled from the jugular vein. From totally 156 blood samples, 31 were selected as originating from clinically healthy foals, and used to determine a reference range for thoroughbred foals. Samples originating from foals showing clinical symptoms of disease or an abnormal body temperature at the time of sampling, were classified as coming from unhealthy animals.

På grund av dålig lönsamhet har många lantbruk tvingats diversifiera sin verksamhet till att inkludera andra verksamhetsområden än det traditionella lantbruket. Det absolut vanligaste området är agrikulturell turism eller även kallad lantgårdsturism som innebär att lantgårdsfamiljen öppnar upp sitt hem för turister. Turism är som verksamhet väldigt skilt från att driva lantbruksverksamhet vilket leder till att många aktörer kan finna denna övergång problematisk. Våra teoretiska och empiriska fynd talar för att marknadsstrategi och kommunikation är områden där dessa aktörer ofta saknar kunskap. Därför har vi i denna uppsats valt att fokusera på hur aktörer inom denna bransch kan samordna och marknadsfora sin verksamhet.Wannborga på Öland AB utgör fallstudieobjektet i denna uppsats vilka kompletteras med ytterligare referensobjekt.

Officialservitut är en rättighet där en fastighet får nyttja annans fastighet för ett speciellt behov. Sådana servitut bildas genom beslut av lantmäterimyndigheten eller domstolen. När ett servitut inte längre behövs eller används för en fastighet förfaller det inte automatiskt. Om servitutet inte upphävs blir det onyttigt. Idag finns det många onyttiga servitut som belastar fastighetsregistret och på så sätt även förrättningsverksamheten.Syftet med det här arbetet är att öka kunskapen om onyttiga officialservitut samt att bidra till att på sikt minska förekomsten av belastande officialservitut.