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.

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.

Organic material used for biogas production can also undergo other treatments. The emissions and impact from the different treatments are evaluated in this environmental assessment, with a focus on energy and climate. The materials included in the study are organic household waste, slaughterhouse waste and liquid manure. Other than biogas production, the possible treatments for organic household waste and slaughterhouse waste are incineration and composting, and for liquid manure storing and spreading. The analysis is based on data and information from current and relevant literature, and relates to the conditions in the Swedish energy system.

Globally, coastal ecosystems like mangrove forests, sea grass meadows and salt marshes are well known for their ability to capture and store atmospheric carbon effectively. In Sweden, there is still limited knowledge about local coastal ecosystems with similar functions, with alder swamp forests being an interesting example. Therefore, this study aimed to increase knowledge of the factors that can contribute to the potential carbon sequestering ability of alder swamps. Vegetation data and sediment samples were collected from a total of 37 sampling plots across four alder swamps in Bohusl?n on the Swedish west coast.

This study aimed to evaluate the levels of formaldehyde and organic acids that can build up within enclosed spaces. Another goal was to compare two types of paints that can be used as coating barriers within showcases and in turn compare them to the modern, and by many highly recommended, material of Marveseal®. A low volatile waterborne alkyd/acrylate paint and a two component polyurethane paint was compared to Marveseal® in two series of experiments. One series measured the level of formaldehyde, and thus the effectiveness of the three chosen barriers, and the other series measured the level of volatile organic acids, both the acids emitted from the paint itself, and that of the wood. One box in each series were not treated at all and was used as a reference.The fact that different types of materials emit volatile organic compounds have long been known.

The Purpose of this study was to examine what knowledge and which attitudes there are about environmental friendly food in the society. To do so an essay were constructed and distributed to five different working places. Altogether there were 50 essays distributed and 43 were returned. The main result; the respondents think that it is important for people to learn how to consume food in a more environmentally friendly way. The majority of the respondents recognized the eco-label KRAV but the European eco-label and Demeter were not recognized in a less extent.

There is a tough competition in food-stores these days. Storeowners have been forced to try something new to attract customers. One way to accomplish that is to add private labels to the assortment. There are several benefits with these labels; its higher margins for this type of brand and the brand can also strengthen the stores image in the customers mind. When private labels first entered the market, the customer had a relatively low attitude towards the brands.

Hur resonerar potentiella kunder kring inköp av produkten som ens företag tillhandahåller? En av de främsta frågorna hos en marknadsförare, men också en fråga som är aktuell i vår marknadsekonomi i stort. Konsumentbeteende är därför ett givet fält inom företagsekonomin. Men hur går det till när konsumenten är ett företag? Vilka aspekter är viktiga och varför? Vilka marknadsföringsinsatser bör genomföras utifrån denna adderade förståelse? Det är utgångspunkten för denna uppsats.

Organic material used for biogas production can also undergo other treatments. The emissions and impact from the different treatments are evaluated in this environmental assessment, with a focus on energy and climate. The materials included in the study are organic household waste, slaughterhouse waste and liquid manure. Other than biogas production, the possible treatments for organic household waste and slaughterhouse waste are incineration and composting, and for liquid manure storing and spreading. The analysis is based on data and information from current and relevant literature, and relates to the conditions in the Swedish energy system.

Organic animal husbandry has received a lot of criticism lately. The aim of this literature review was to examine if the rules and principles of organic pig farming give better or worse welfare in comparison to the conventional systems in Sweden. Health, physiology and behaviour have been used as indicators of welfare in this study. This is due to the importance of using more than one indicator in welfare assessments. Studies have shown that organic pigs have more remarks on joints when slaughtered, but these remarks can be reduced by vaccination against erysipelas.

In the coming years, organic food waste will be collected in the region of Gästrikland, Sweden. The collection is planned to cover the entire region by the end of year 2007. To start with, smaller amounts are being collected and transported to a central composting plant in Sala. However, a central composting plant in the region of Gästrikland is projected.The objective of this thesis is to evaluate a number of possible methods for composting of organic food wastes regarding their environmental impacts and localization.There are four scenarios for future composting of organic waste that have been evaluated. There are two that consist of membrane composting, either in Sala or in the region of Gästrikland.

This thesis is part of the evaluation of a development project in Serbia, where cooperativeshave been formed in order to make the members support themselves trough organic farming.The purpose of the paper has been to find out if the goal of making the current members andpotential new members able to support themselves on what the cooperatives produce, hasbeen reached. The goal is to be considered as partly fulfilled; according to the last annualreport from Odraz, ?the registered cooperatives have become fully functional and stable andthey have started making some modest profit.???the majority of the beneficiaries think thatthey are self-reliant??. In order to find out what is required in order to fulfil the establishedgoal entirely, (for example there are no reports of that new members have been recruited, andthe fact that most, not all, current members of the cooperatives (the beneficiaries) say thatthey are supplied from what the cooperatives produce), I have tried to identify the conditionswhich the cooperatives operate under. The basis of the paper consists of a literature review,interviews with the directors of the cooperatives, a questionnaire dealing with the businessenvironment and various external sources in Serbia..

Composting is a process in which organic matter is mineralized by microorganisms. In January 2005 landfilling of organic waste was prohibited in Sweden. With this prohibition composting has become an important alternative to handle the produced organic wastes. One problem with continuous small-scale composting is the production of organic acids that will inhibit a further composting process. The aim of these theses was to study what effects temperature and dry matter content had on the production of organics acids, and what effect the organic acids had on the mineralisation of the substrate as well as the stability during storage of the product.

GE Healthcare operates in Uppsala (Sweden) and develops systems, equipments and medium to purify medical substances. Discussions with the local authority concerning planed far-reaching changes and upgrades of the biological process techniques for sewage management, aroused the question about revising the terms of permit for the activity. Therefore it seemed necessary to evaluate a newly installed biological process technique, which is the background of this thesis. The evaluated biological treatment process was built in 2003 and consists of a biological reactor filled with moving bed carriers with a high surface area for biological growth. At the time of the project the biological wastewater treatment plant consisted of a flow equalization facility and two following parallel biological processes; a biological reactor with moving bed carriers and a tower trickling filter.The aim of this thesis was to survey the function of the biological reactor with respect to the reduction of organic matter.

This study was made on former agricultural areas that had been planted with spruce or pine, in the county of Västerbotten. The goal of the project was to investigate suspected deficiency of boron in these areas. Several objects have been reported for possible deficiency and some of these have the characteristic symptoms of boron-deficiency. The hypotheses are that 1) Boron deficiency is present at several of the investigated objects. 2) Planting of forest on cultivated postglacial sediments leads to a successive podzolisation with a decreasing content of organic matter in the mineral soil, due to decomposition, and a decreasing pH in the soil, even on locations that have been added lime. To be able to confirm or reject the hypotheses a number of tests were performed.