UNHIDE Agroforestry - A Knowledge Exchange Latvia- Sweden 2023-25 - Report - Page 33
Anders invites beech saplings to grow tall, to eventually
shade the ground around his sweet chestnut trees to make
harvest easier. The beech crowns will be kept under the
sweet chestnut canopy.
Windbreaks, riparian buffers, and alley cropping
systems are also integrated into the farm’s design.
The surrounding Söderslätt region is a flat, open
agricultural landscape dominated by monocultures of rapeseed, sugar beet, barley, and wheat,
with few permanent habitats or green corridors
that allow animals and plants to disperse naturally.
Old, pollarded willow trees—now hollow—along
rural roads are rare remnants of the former landscape.
Since the beginning of the 19th century, 90 percent of the wetlands that existed in Southern Sweden have been drained, (which lead to the disappearance of the native stork) and the agricultural
land has been deprived of trees, clearing the way
for large scale farming.
Species historically associated with this landscape
—but now disadvantaged by the loss of wetlands,
meadows, and perennial woody vegetation—include bats, hedgehogs, weasels, partridge, small
birds, butterflies, wild bees, and salamanders.
The introduction of artificial fertilizers in 1952
reduced the need for animal manure, and many
traditional farm buildings with enclosed cowsheds
have since stood empty.
“Agriculture and food production at odds with
sustainable and species-rich ecosystems has been
a recurring topic on the farm since the time of my
grandmother’s father, when industrial agriculture
first took hold,” Anders explains.
With the shift in Swedish agricultural policy in
1990–1991, followed by Sweden’s accession to
the EU in 1995, national food security policies
were discontinued. Since then, the number of
farms has decreased dramatically, as many were
unable to compete with central and southern
European wage levels, pricing structures, and
longer growing seasons. Those that remain have
often transformed into highly specialized operations spanning hundreds of hectares, largely
dependent on EU subsidies.
Within this context—and as the farm was divided
between Anders and his sisters—the remaining
land was insufficient to sustain competitive conventional agriculture.
Anders spent five years studying philosophy in
England, where he encountered agroforestry and
