Sustainability effects of introducing legumes in traditional cropping systems : an experimental case study in Swedish context

The agricultural sector of the world faces a growing food demand because of a growing world population. To support this growing demand, it could be necessary that agricultural production increases, this increase in production must be achieved sustainably. One way to achieve more sustainable production in agricultural could be to diversify the production systems. Legumes are a crop group that holds properties that could be of importance when trying to achieve more diverse and sustainable agriculture. This study aims to examine how a diversification with legumes would affect typical Swedish cereal dominated cropping systems in terms of sustainability. More specifically, the three dimensions of the triple bottom line are investigated separately. Indicators of sustainability in each dimension are identified, and these show the effects of legumes in the cropping systems. To examine the effects legumes attributable to the sustainability in the cropping systems, two case farms are developed. Five different indicators are applied; these are profitability, nitrogen usage, phosphorus usage, energy production, and protein production. The study considers three different legumes, feed peas, yellow peas, and broad beans. From the two case farms, a mathematical optimization model is developed from which the indicators are calculated. The approach of the study is quantitative and uses secondary data from several sources. Results from the study indicate that legumes could increase the profitability of both case farms. The results show an increase in the profitability of between 0-4 %. The study indicates that nitrogen and phosphorus usage on the farm decreases. The results on phosphorus differ from previous studies, where it is found that legumes would increase the usage of phosphorus in a cropping system. The results on the indicators of energy and protein are similar to previous research and point towards an increase in protein production and a decrease in energy production. The major conclusion is that diversification with legumes could have an impact on the sustainability of the two case farms. Only one out of five indicators point towards reduced sustainability compared to a state with no legumes; this is the indicator of energy production. However, in the discussion, the implication of lower energy production is discussed, and it is found that a lower energy production might not be bad for the single farmer.Jordbrukssektorn i världen står inför en växande efterfråga på livsmedel på grund av en växande världsbefolkning. För att möta denna växande efterfråga är det nödvändigt att jordbruksproduktionen ökar, denna produktionsökning måste uppnås på ett hållbart sätt. Ett sätt att uppnå en mer hållbar jordbruksproduktion kan vara att diversifiera produktionssystemen. Baljväxter är en gröda som kan vara betydande vid försök att uppnå ett mer diversifierat och hållbart jordbruk. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka hur en diversifiering med baljväxter skulle påverka traditionella svenska spannmålsdominerade växtodlingssystem med avseende på hållbarhet. Mer specifikt undersöks de tre dimensionerna; ekonomisk hållbarhet, miljömässig hållbarhet och social hållbarhet separat. Indikatorer identifieras i varje dimension för hållbarhet, och dessa visar effekterna baljväxter har i växtodlingssystem. För att undersöka hållbarhetseffekterna av baljväxter i växtodlingssystem utvecklas två fiktiva fallgårdar. Fem olika indikatorer tillämpas och dessa är lönsamhet, kväveanvändning, fosforanvändning, energiproduktion och proteinproduktion. Studien undersöker tre olika baljväxter, foderärt, gulärt och åkerbönor. Utifrån fallgårdarna utvecklas en matematisk optimeringsmodell där indikatorerna beräknas. Studiens tillvägagångssätt är kvantitativt och använder sekundärdata från olika källor. Resultaten från studien tyder på att baljväxter kan öka lönsamheten på Svenska växtodlingsgårdar. Lönsamheten ökar enligt resultaten mellan 0-4 % på fallgårdarna. Resultaten indikerar att gårdarnas kväve- och fosforanvändning minskar. Resultaten på fosforanvändningen skiljer sig från tidigare studier, där det konstateras att behovet av fosfor ökar i växtodlingssystem där baljväxter ingår. Resultaten på indikatorerna för energi- och proteinproduktion överensstämmer med tidigare forskning och pekar på en ökning av proteinproduktion och en minskning av energiproduktion. Slutsatsen är att en diversifiering med baljväxter kan öka hållbarheten hos de två fallgårdarna. Endast en av fem indikatorer pekar på lägre hållbarhet med baljväxter inkluderat i växtodlingssystemen jämfört med växtodlingssystem utan baljväxter

Optimal replacement time for grain combines

I Sverige uppgick år 2009 lantbrukets totala maskininvesteringar till drygt 6 miljarder kronor, av dessa var 533 miljoner (cirka 8 procent) investeringar i skördetröskor. Skördetröskan är den enskilt största maskininvesteringen på en modern spannmålsgård. Lantbrukare måste ständigt arbeta för att reducera kostnaderna. Maskinkostnaderna uppgår till cirka 36 procent av de spannmålsproducerande gårdarnas totala kostnader. Lantbrukaren kan i hög grad påverka maskinkostnaden genom att utnyttja maskinerna fullt ut och byta ut dessa vid optimal tidpunkt. Syftet med denna studie är att identifiera den optimala tidpunkten för utbyte av skördetröskor samt undersöka om och varför utbyte eventuellt sker vid annan tidpunkt. Förhoppningen är att studien ska vara till hjälp för lantbrukare att bestämma skördetröskans optimala tidpunkt för utbyte. För att identifiera tidpunkten beräknas kostnadsposterna värdeminskning, kapitalkostnad, underhållskostnad, läglighetskostnad och teknisk utveckling utifrån två olika realistiska scenarier. Scenarierna utformas utifrån det geografiska området GSS, Götalands södra slättbygder. En litteraturstudie genomförs för att presentera befintlig litteratur inom investeringsmodeller samt forskningsfältet. För att få en teoretisk grund som komplement till litteraturstudien utvecklas en empirisk undersökning rörande lantbrukares existerande skördetröskor samt deras investeringsstrategi och beslutsbakgrund. Studien visar att optimal utbytestidpunkt beror på skördetröskans storlek, kapacitet och inköpspris. Den visar också att vår modells optimala tidpunkt för byte är kortare än lantbrukarnas genomsnittliga utbytestidpunkt. En större skördetröska kännetecknas av en kortare ekonomisk livslängd än en mindre eftersom teknisk utveckling och läglighetskostnaden i en högre grad påverkar en större skördetröska. Om teknisk utveckling och realprisökning inte beaktas blir skördetröskans ekonomiska livslängd längre jämfört med om det tas i beaktande.In Sweden, 2009, the agricultural machinery investments are estimated to be just over 6 billion SEK, of which 8 percent, 533 million SEK, represent investments in combines. At farms engaged in crop cultivation, the machinery costs are estimated to amount 36 percent of total costs. This requires that the farmers fully utilize their machinery and replaces them at the right time. The problem in this study is to determine if and when there exist a breakpoint at a certain age where the total machinery cost for the existing machine is higher compared to investing in a machine. Hence, the objective of this study is to find the optimal time for replacement of a combine. The study intends to provide a better understanding of when it is economically rational to invest in a new combine and to determine the optimal replacement age. The study uses a quantitative approach to determine if there are any differences between how farmers do and how the implemented calculations in this study. The results show that the optimal replacement time for combine harvesters depends on the size of the machine. The optimal replacement time is found at the breakpoint when the marginal cost of the defender becomes higher than the average cost of the challenger. The costs concludes depreciation, maintenance costs, timeliness costs, technological improvement and increase in real price, affects the optimal replacement time

Discarding of cod in the Danish Fully Documented Fisheries trials

Denmark was the first nation in Europe to promote the use of Fully Documented Fisheries (FDF) through Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) and CCTV camera systems, with pilot schemes in place since 2008. In theory, such a scheme could supplement and even potentially replace expensive control and monitoring programmes; and when associated with a catch quota management (CQM) system, incentivize positive changes in fishing patterns in a results-based management approach. New data flows are, however, required to ensure the practical implementation of such a scheme. This paper reviews the quality of the FDF data collected during 2008-2014 and their potential in strengthening information on cod discards. The analyses demonstrate the improved reporting of discards in logbooks and overall discard reductions, but they also show that some uncertainties around the absolute estimates of discard quantities have remained. Regular validation of weight estimation methods and close collaboration between scientific monitoring and control are important to support the use of reported discards as a reliable source of information. We discuss the potential of electronic monitoring in the context of the EU landing obligation

Does Feeling Empathy Lead to Compassion Fatigue or Compassion Satisfaction? The Role of Time Perspective

Research has shown that feeling empathy sometimes leads to compassion fatigue and sometimes to compassion satisfaction. In three studies, participants recalled an instance when they felt empathy in order to assess the role time perspective plays in how empathizers perceive the consequences of empathy. Study 1 revealed that college students perceive empathy as having more negative consequences in the short term, but more positive consequences in the long term. Study 2 showed that service industry professionals perceive the consequences of feeling empathy for customers who felt bad as less negative, and the consequences of feeling empathy for people who felt good as less positive, in the long as opposed to the short term. Because Studies 1 and 2 confounded time perspective with event specificity a third study was conducted in which event specificity was held constant across time perspectives. The same pattern of results emerged. The results of these studies indicate that perceptions of the effects of feeling empathy, whether positive or negative, become less extreme over time. These findings shed light on the relation between empathy and compassion fatigue and satisfaction by suggesting that situations that initially are experienced as stressful can over time make the empathizer stronger

Konungsliga motbilder : Den kungliga legitimitetens ifrågasättande i 1700- och 1800-talets Sverige

Författaren har bytt namn till Jakob Starlander.</p

The Peasant Imagined : Social Imaginary and Social Order in Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century Sweden

The purpose of this thesis is to illuminate how the Swedish peasantry was perceived by the Swedish Burgher, Clerical, and Noble Estates during the eighteenth and early nineteenth century. By studying the Diet protocols of each Estate from three Diets, and by applying the concept of social imaginary, it considers what a peasant was perceived to be, who was perceived to be a peasant, and how these perceptions changed. The period under investigation is a time when the orders of society began to change and the peasantry underwent a process of radicalization. It is also a time when the way people perceived themselves changed, from a perception of “the self” heavily influenced by the collective, to a more individualistic one. These circumstances made the Estates question the traditional ideal of what a peasant was, re-writing the social script of the peasantry to include new attributes, duties, and virtues than it did a century earlier. Three main categories are used and aims at exploring the peasantry’s perceived social dignity, political role, and economic function, each representing its respective order in estate society. The study has shown how the Estates perceived peasants to be simple, uneducated, and foolish in the early stages of the Age of Liberty (1718–1772), and that the social dignity of a peasant was fundamental in conceptualizing what and who a peasant was. This changed towards the end of the century and became much more diverse and complex during the early nineteenth century. By the early 1820’s, the Noble and Clerical Estates perceived them as competent, responsible, and as being capable of betterment and upward mobility in a spiritual and worldly sense. The Burgher Estate perceived them as self-righteous, rustic, and intrusive as they had begun to invade their cities, steeling their livelihood, and thus threatening their entire existence as an estate. The economic transformations of the period also proved how the economic function of the peasantry was now to a larger degree emphasized as the determinative factor of what social dignity and political role they should have.The author has changed name to Jakob Starlander.</p

En persona i frihetstidens politiska rum : Bonden i ridderskapet och adelns tankevärld i 1740-talets Sverige

This essay is a contribution to the process of reconstructing the meaning of a concept that has been long forsaken and somewhat forgotten. It examines the way in which the Swedish nobility perceived the politically active peasantry during the 1740s as an expression of the prevailing political culture of the period. The aim of this study is thus to understand a bygone world of thought that once existed in a very turbulent political culture. I focus on the words formed and articulated in the halls and rooms of the Swedish estates by which the thoughts, opinions and power of the Swedish government came to the fore. In doing so it is possible to say something about how the nobility, in their relationship with the peasantry, constructed an object which represented their perception of the Swedish peasant and what this meant. In other words the persona that the nobility attributed the peasants. The new political culture of the Age of Liberty (1719–1772) allowed the peasants to enforce a political offensive that gave raise to new ways of expressing themselves, new ways of performing and new ways of positioning themselves in relation the other estates. This also meant a change in how the other estates perceived and acted in relation to the peasantry. The peasant persona was mainly characterized by negative traits and qualities. He was foolish, unqualified and naïve in his quest for increased political rights. However, he was also regarded as humble, benevolent and as a dedicated man. He was a Swedish citizen, just as the members of the nobility, and therefore he had an inherent value because of his love for his homeland. This made it possible for the nobility and peasantry to protect themselves against intruders, to strive forward and to live in harmony with each other.Författaren har bytt namn till Jakob Starlander.</p