Economics, policy and food systems transformation

Diversified farming - economy and food value chains

In interdisciplinary collaborative research including expertise in economy, agronomy, ecology and geography, we follow trends and assess how implementation of agroecological practices among Swedish farmers, such as diversified crop production and mixed livestocks-crop farming, affect farm economic viability and outcomes. We explore options to promote sustainable farming practices in the food value chain in collaboration with farmers, process industry and retail. We mine large long-term data bases of crop production and farm business economics and track trends and outcomes at farm to regional and national levels in the past 20 years.

Read more: TRANSECO 

Collaborators: Anne Dietrich, Valeria Carini, Dr Pia Nilsson, Prof Helena Hansson, Dr Brian Kuns  Dr Giulia Vico  

Values and barriers to safeguard pollinators

Active global research on pollinators has in the past couple of decades amassed an enormous amount of information on ways to mitigate and reverse the observed declines of pollinators and other insects. Despite this, pollinators remain under pressure from multiple human drivers. In the EU-funded research project SAFEGUARD we assess status and trends of European pollinators, their effects on ecosystem functions and options to reverse declines. We assess economic, social-cultural and environmental values and benefits of safeguarding pollinators. We identify motivations, barriers and limits in EU policy development for substantial implementation of pollinator-friendly practices taking a political ecology perspective.

Collaborators  Dr Florence Damiens,  Dr Ola Lundin, Prof René van der Wal, Dr Klara Fischer, Dr Tom Breeze , Prof Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter