The Swedish government has proposed that 20 % of the cultivated land in Sweden should be organic by the year 2010 (The Swedish Board of Agriculture, 2008). In addition to this the production of organic food like milk, meat and egg should increase considerably. To reach the government?s goal it is necessary that the Swedish farmers get motivated to convert their production from conventional to organic. Milko is a dairy association that has chosen to focus on organic products, they want to be the leading organic dairy association, and therefore they have a large need for organic milk (Milko, 2008).

The objective of this study was to make an inventory and a potential analysis of the organic beef production in the region of Gävleborg, Sweden. A survey was conducted, where a questionaire was sent to all farmers in the region who had environmental subsidies concerning organic cropping systems in 2001. In total, there were 701 farmers, of which 46 % participated in the study. Three slaughter houses were interviewed to get their pictures of the development of organic beef production. The study shows that there are potentials and interests in the region to increase the production of organic beef.

As for today, a large quantity of protein feeds is imported from other countries to be used in the Swedish dairy production. The main import is soya from Brazil. The soya-production in Brazil results in negative consequences for the natural environment in the area, and the long transport of the feeds requires a lot of energy. The Organic dairy production in Sweden is, with the highest probability going to be forced to use 100 % organic feed to the cows in the year 2005, due to new EU-rules. These are some of the causes why there are reasons to look closer at the possibilities to feed Swedish cows with only Swedish feeds. In this study, I have looked at the KRAV-rules for organic feeding, where the goal is feeding with only KRAV-approved feeds.

Drinking water from drilled wells has a high content of iron and other minerals in many places in Sweden. Questions about the association between the quality of drinking water and the health of dairy cows are regulary asked both by advisers and dairy farmers. There are so far not many studies published about the relevance for high iron content in water and dairy cow health and production. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate if there is a connection between the iron content in water and the health of dairy cows. Initially a literature study was made about iron and it´s function in ruminants.

A decade ago the organic egg production in Sweden was nearly nonexistent (Föreningen för ekologisk fjäderfäproduktion, 2008). A rising demand for these products in the beginning of year 2000 made the organic egg production the most increasing production of all organic provisions. The Swedish consumers value provision production that have a reduced impact on the environment and further protects the wellness of animals and plants (Jordbruksverket, 2010). Today, the organic egg production composes roughly 6 % of the total egg production in Sweden. This indicates that the ambition of Jordbruksverket, which has an organic egg production goal of 10 % of the total production, is not yet achieved.The consumer demand on the market is the driving force for these new products, and the higher prices contribute to an essential portion of the additional costs of organic egg production (Jordbruksverket, 2004).

In our everyday life we are faced with many choices that have consequences on the environment. One of these is the food we choose to eat since food production has a big impact on the environment. In organic production the aim is to have a natural production process, where environmental impacts are minimized. By choosing organic food it is therefore possible to contribute to a better environment. A large number of meals are served every day in the public sector, which makes it an important player in the consumer sector that could make a major difference for the environment..

In our everyday life we are faced with many choices that have consequences on the environment. One of these is the food we choose to eat since food production has a big impact on the environment. In organic production the aim is to have a natural production process, where environmental impacts are minimized. By choosing organic food it is therefore possible to contribute to a better environment. A large number of meals are served every day in the public sector, which makes it an important player in the consumer sector that could make a major difference for the environment..

The organic farmland is increasing all the time and the goal is that 15 % of the Swedish farmland will be in organic production in year 2010. The organic production needs new and more effective ways to control weeds, and there is the row harrowing coming as a good complement to the conventional weed harrowing. In this experiment is weed harrowing whit different row spaces and row harrowing with a spacing of 25 cm compared. Then are the weed picked and the weight taken of them. The yield is compared in the 7 different ways of treatment. The results is not showing any significant differences in yield even when the row spacing is 25 cm instead of 12,5 cm. Even the spring wheat that is a sensitive crop and has bad tillering is doing well in this experiment. Now with modern technology where the row harrow is controlled by a camera that making the row harrow to follow the rows is it the soil coverage of the crop that is the limit for the speed. With wide machinery is the very good coverage even with a row harrow..

According to the EEG-councils regulation nr 2092/91, all seed used in organic production must have organic origin. All seed which is offered for sale must be controlled by KRAV, and also comply with the rules of the seedlegislation. The seedlegislation contains demands respecting origin, quality, growingconditions and freedom from deseases. In this piece of work I will investigate the profitability of organic potatoseedproduction, and also what it takes to produce potatoseed. The workmethod has been to, with help from counsellors and growers, make some compareable calculations for foodpotatoes and seedpotatoes, and also with help from a literaturestudy investigate which requires an organic seedcultivation must fulfil. In this piece of work I found out that the organic potatoseedproduction still is to insecure to be profitable. The attack of potatoleafmould, which is out of control, cause unequal yields and this will bring that the new EU-rules, concerning organic seed, not seems defendable yet..

The aim of this literature review is to give an overview of the differences between pure- and crossbreeding systems. Crossbreeding is a mating system with individuals of different lines or breeds. It is one of several breeding strategies in dairy production used to increase the economic profit. The use of crossbreeding increases due to changes in the dairy market and an increase of inbreeding among purebred Holstein. The main benefit of crossbreeding is heterosis, which is the improvement in genetic level in a hybrid offspring above the average of the parent breeds.

A majority of Swedish consumers have a positive attitude towards organic production and the number of organic products on the market is increasing. Despite these positive trends, there are still relatively few consumers who choose to buy organic produced products. According to statistics, only 3% of the total sales of food consist of organic products. The aim with this essay is to understand what is needed, both from the grocery store and the consumer's point of view, to increase the consumption of organic food. Information has been collected partly through questionnaire with consumers and partly through analysis of sales statistics for a selected numbers of products. Then the empirical material have been analysed in the light of a combination of the Behavioural Perspective Model (Foxell, 1997) and Kotler's Four P:s (Kotler, 2002). Consumer's willingness to buy organic products is influenced by a number of different factors. One important thing is if the grocery store offers a behaviour setting that stimulates the consumers positive attitude and facilitates their possibilities to collect new information. Furthermore, the store needs to offer a broad and well-visualised selection of organic products.

This study examines how farmers certified by KRAV face proposed regulations on organic soils put forward by KRAV economic association among others, and how they are affected economically. These soils are, from an environmental perspective, interesting as a target for production regulations as they cause greenhouse gas emissions through decomposition of organic material when cultivated. The regulations advocate that organic soils should be grown with pasture where soil cultivation is only allowed every fith year which implies that possible adjustments of cultivation have to be made in order to fulfill the regualtions. Collection of data have been made through a questionnaire sent out to 574 farmers certified by KRAV. The answers have been analysed using a decision making model and statistical findings suggest that proportion of organic soils, type of production, economic conditions and farmers? goals and values have an influence on whether the regulations and potential cultivation adjustments have been considered or not.

AbstractThe customer demand for ecological products has increased in recent years, within the garden industry this mainly concerns herbs and other edible plants. The organic trend is increasing and more people are aware of the environment and want to take responsibility for it through their purchases for their garden as well.In this essay the aim is to investigate customer demand and the possibility of selling organicperennial plants in eight garden centres on the Åland islands and in Gävle/Sandviken. I include two garden centres with an organic profile to get a wider point of view. I investigate the global market for organic perennials and look further into existing certification standards on the Swedish market today.The methods I have been using are interviews and a literature study.The study shows that the experienced demand for organic perennials is small in both of myinvestigated groups. The biggest motivation for starting to sell organic perennials would be to find a supplier of these plants and that more customer would ask for them.

Major changes within the agricultural politics today have forced the dairy production to scaleup, in order to compete on a global market. This has resulted in a reduction in the number ofsmaller dairy farms in Sweden, from about 40000 to just over 4000 over the last 30 years. Thepurpose of this study Svenska mjölkbönder, snart ett minne blott? ? Markbygdensmjölkbönder i tankar om mjölkproduktionens nuvarande situation och framtidsutsikter, is topresent the opinions of dairy farmers in Sweden, regarding the Swedish dairy industry and therelation to their own dairy production. A secondary purpose is to problematize how theconsequences of pastures and cultural landscapes influences human society as dairy farms andgrazing animals are becoming fewer.

There are several reasons why organic chicken production is scarce in Sweden. Lack of slow growing (SG) strains combined with higher production costs, lower meat-yield and uncertainty of consumers? willingness to pay seems to be the main reasons. EU-legislations imply use of indigenous slow- or medium growing strains in organic production, nevertheless, fast growing (FG) broilers are often used due to their effectiveness. Increased consumption of processed food creates a market for conventionally rearing of very heavy broilers.