A possible way to reduce pollution and slow down the process of global warming is to increase the usage of renewable energy sources. One of these renewable energy sources is solar power. With the aid of solar panels and solar cells the energy from the sun can be transformed into both heating and electricity. The requirement to use the sun in this fashion is a suitable surface, for example a big roof, an angle between 40-60 degrees and that the surface should be exposed to the south. Almost every farm meets these requirements.

Very little is known about the health situation amongs Swedish dairy goats. The population of Swedish dairy goats can only be estimated, and that number is somewhere .

In order to investigate if the KRAV-regulations have any effects on the health and welfare of calves, KRAV-affiliated farms were compared to conventional farms with respect to calf management and outcome. The dairy calf has had a low economical impact during history. Even today the value of the calf is low and a lot of calves have a poor health status. The calf breeding is built on tradition and on the fact, that cheap antibiotics have made it possible to ignore, the recommendations about good hygiene in the calf?s environment.

The economic conditions for Swedish dairy Farmers are constantly changing. The numbers of producers are declining and the economic conditions for dairy production are weakening debilitating. To improve the economic situation for a farm a hired contractor is a possible solution since previous studies show that machinery cooperation may be beneficial for the Farmers. The aim of this study is to examine the possibility for Farmers to cut costs by hiring a contractor for harvesting silage. A comparison between using own machinery and hire a contractor is the starting point of this study. Another aim is to discuss the farmer?s decision process when achieving today?s situation and to determinate what factors affect their decisions. The study is based on cases selected from four farms that today have chosen not to or only to some extent, hire a contractor for harvesting silage.

The Swedish Animal Welfare Act say that all milking cows must have access to pasture in summer time. That was a gift to Astrid Lindgren o her 80th birthday from the Swedish Government. Sweden is a predecessor in animal welfare, but how well do we live up to these big expectations? In this thesis I will examine how well the pasture for milking cows works. I have been interviewing Farmers with milking cows and people in the business. I have also been searching information on Internet, and using the library of Alnarp. Cows that are kept on pasture are exposed to different kind of parasites, but on the other hand they run a smaller risk to getting acetonemi, pareses and udder infection. Veterinary Pierre Nordmark means that cows on pasture are more healthy then cows kept inside all summer.

This report is a literature review that aims to describe marketing contexts for mango production in Kenya. The institutional conditions in the country are not well developed for marketing purposes, which causes many difficulties and problems for the society. In Kenya most mango producers are poor small-scale Farmers with limited resources. Mango is a perishable commodity and to keep its value and quality it is essential to have the opportunity to sell the mangos in the right time. Inefficient and undeveloped infrastructure and marketing systems hinders the mangos to reach the market in time though, which causes large losses of produce.The Kenyan mango production has increased during the last decade but due to market losses for the producer, the small-scale Farmers? profits have not improved.

The development of farm-operated biogas plants in Sweden is increasing. This study investigates the process that firms go through in developing such ventures. The aim is to identify obstacles and opportunities that individual Farmers have encountered during the implementation process, and through a comparative analysis find similarities and differences between cases. The overall goal is to increase understanding of the factors that influence Farmers? development of farm-based biogas production, and more specifically, explore opportunities for support organizations to contribute to the innovation process. Findings indicate that the implementation process has changed over time.

In agricultural educations you learn to use different economic planning tools, as basis for decision. The purpose and goal of this work has been to find out if economic planning tools are used by the Farmers in Sweden. We choose to do an investigation through personal interviews, and used an inquiry to get as equivalent answers as possible from the Farmers. This work contains a literature study with relevant facts about the questions that is brought up in the inquiry. This study of literature explains shortly some different calculation methods and bases for decision. It also contains useable information that is important to know before an investment. The questions that are asked to the Farmers have focused on the use of calculation methods and economical planning tools.

Today cultivation of cereal in Sweden has high costs for establishment in relation to the rest of the world, and if this cultivation will be able to continue, the Farmers have to control their costs. It is important to see all costs, not the maximum harvest achieved, but the net result. All Farmers have different conditions with respect to soil, direction of the farm and were the farm is located geographically. With the right knowledge and ambitions, we think most Farmers could change to reduced tillage. In this paper we have tried to find out if reduced tillage is an alternative for Farmers.

A severe profitability decline in sugar beet production in all of Europe is one of the consequences of the latest reform of the EU sugar regime. In south of Sweden, sugar beets is the crop that has been the most profitable by far for the last decade. The high profitability has contributed to the high rate of increase in the price of land and has restrained the structural change towards a more effective agriculture. Because of the reform, all sugar beet producers are facing diminishing income and must find ways to compensate this. The aim of this master thesis is to study how Swedish Farmers adapt to the sugar beet reform. A questionnaire was sent to 354 randomly selected sugar beet producers.

Gotland is famous around the world for its unique nature. The agriculture here has always been an important source of income and part of the identity of the island. But today the profession has low status and hard to survive. How can the interest for farming be increased?Gotlandsgården is an investigation about how the agriculture could develop.

In Sweden there is a large interest in renewable energy but the market for solar power is still small compared to other countries such as Germany. Here many Farmers produce their own electricity. The Federation of Swedish Farmers have acknowledged the potential for Swedish farmer to produce electricity and there is an interest among the Farmers. The agricultural branches in Sweden most suitable for solar power are pig production and poultry due to the even electricity need throughout a year. Swedish pig Farmers are going through a period of unsteady profitability which makes it interesting to see whether producing their own electricity can affect the economic situation.

In this degree project I write about how the Farmers who grows carrots in Sweden get influenced by different rules, investments and demands. The Swedish agriculture are heading towards a harder time, and then you have to find new things to do. Now its hardly no profit to grow grain so you have find other crops. This paper is not a comparison between the contract cultivation to Findus and the cultivation where the farmer maked his products by a own company on the farm. If you have a small processing company on the farm, you have to increase the standard with different certificate. The farmer binds a lot of capital in machines, both field and in the process.

Peat litter is a soft material with high absorbency. About hundred years ago many Farmers in Sweden used peat litter to their dairy cows. After the World War II the use of peat litter decreased and the Farmers used more straw. Nowadays (year 2007), when it is harder to find straw and sawdust to buy, peat litter is advancing again. The purpose with this study is to investigate peat as a litter to dairy cows.

Gotland is famous around the world for its unique nature. The agriculture here has always been an important source of income and part of the identity of the island. But today the profession has low status and hard to survive. How can the interest for farming be increased?Gotlandsgården is an investigation about how the agriculture could develop.