Abstract
This paper gives an overview of the present state of Swedish agriculture and discusses some problems and experiences of general interest. After an introductory section on the characteristics of Swedish agriculture, a number of problems are described, such as social problems, market imbalances, environmental damage, changes in landscape amenities, and animal health. Possible causes of these problems are discussed. Recent attempts to solve the problems as well as the current Swedish debate on more radical changes in agricultural policy are also discussed. The main components of a suggested program are subsidies to farmers based on their acreage of grazed land or grassland and elimination of the present price supports and market regulations.
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Additional information
Lars Drake is a Research leader in a project on alternative production methods in agriculture at the Department of Economics at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. He received a B.A. at the University of Uppsala in 1980, became a Licentiate at the University of Agricultural Sciences in 1985 and was Assistant Professor at the same university 1986–1987. His work, mainly published in Sweden, concerns resource economics, environmental problems in agriculture, amenity values of landscape and agricultural and environmental policies. He teaches general and resource economics.
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Drake, L. Swedish agriculture at a turning point. Agric Hum Values 6, 117–126 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02219428
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02219428