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Sammanfattning

In this thesis I examine how Swedish farms adapt to structural, economic, and environmental pressures, and how knowledge shapes the adaptation processes. The thesis consists of four empirical studies where I analyse short-run responses to shocks, longer-term strategies for economic viability, ecological diversification, and investment behaviour. I use rich Swedish register and administrative data linked to geospatial and climatic information, allowing farms and farmers to be followed over time.

Pre-existing off-farm wage work is assessed as a source of income stability during the 2018 drought in the first study. The results show that farmers who already combine farm and wage income maintain total earnings during the shock, consistent with off-farm work functioning as a pre-committed adaptation strategy rather than an immediate coping response. The second study focuses on how functional crop diversity affects productivity and whether such effects spill over to neighbouring farms. The results indicate that functionally diverse crop rotations raise productivity and generate local spillovers, highlighting crop diversification as a knowledgeintensive innovation process. In the third study hybrid farming, the combination of farm self-employment and off-farm wage work, is examined as a long-term strategy for economic viability. Under certain income compositions and asset configurations, hybrid farming can be a durable state rather than a transitional phase. The fourth study addresses how rising land values relate to productivity growth through the collateral channel. The findings demonstrate that a higher price of pasture can increase productivity growth and investment.

With respect to knowledge, the findings of this thesis show that different forms of human capital, in the form of education, experience, networks, diversification knowhow and intergenerational transmission, are central to how farms remain viable under structural, economic, and environmental change.

Nyckelord

knowledge; diversification; productivity; agriculture; farm viability; hybrid farming; drought; collateral; spatial spillovers; Sweden

Publicerad i

Acta Universitatis Agriculturae Sueciae
2026, nummer: 2026:1
Utgivare: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

SLU författare

UKÄ forskningsämne

Jordbruksekonomi och landsbygdsutveckling

Publikationens identifierare

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.54612/a.sl3u3gpalu
  • ISBN: 978-91-8124-198-3
  • eISBN: 978-91-8124-218-8

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/130918