Abstract

After three decades of demobilising the Swedish defence sector following the end of the Cold War, Sweden recently revived civil defence planning, including new instructions to plan for food security in the event of war. This policy shift has raised questions as to how farming's vulnerability to disruptions differs today from in the Cold War era, as well as how this vulnerability might best be mitigated. This article presents and discusses key vulnerabilities in Swedish farming as perceived by farmers and some technological solutions to these envisioned by rural entrepreneurs. The focus is on technologies that could increase farm-level self-sufficiency and decrease vulnerability to trade disruptions. Using a sociotechnical imaginaries framework, to which we contribute the concept of 'technovisions', we highlight how farmers' perceptions of potential technological solutions are embedded in social, material and moral values. We conclude that the technovisions presented, based on the production of renewable fuels, can contribute to reducing dependency on imported fuel and fertilisers and thus decrease vulnerability, and that these technovisions are placed firmly within a productionist imaginary of how food security can be achieved.

Keywords

Civil defence; food security; sociotechnical imaginaries; technovision; renewable fuels

Published in

Science, technology & society
2020, article number: UNSP 0971721819889924
Publisher: SAGE PUBLICATIONS INDIA PVT LTD

SLU Authors

• Fischer, Klara

  • Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Ulfbecker, Ebba

  • Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG7 Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
SDG2 End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture


UKÄ Subject classification

Renewable Bioenergy Research
Social Sciences Interdisciplinary
Agricultural Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0971721819889924

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/104084