The proportion of milk producers in northern Sweden who would have a zero result or less if they were not allowed to take part in the national support, has increased drastically over the past five years.
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The production of potatoes is steadily decreasing – while the number of goats has increased. This is shown by the Swedish Agency for Agriculture's report on the development of agriculture in northern Sweden during the years 2018–2022.
In northern Sweden, for example, a shorter growing season and long transport distances mean more difficult conditions for conducting agricultural activities compared to other parts of Sweden. In order to support agriculture in northern Sweden and give it the conditions to remain, there is special national support.
Support is provided for the production of cow's milk, goats, pigs for slaughter, piglets, eggs, potatoes, berries and vegetables. In addition, support is provided for the transport of cow's milk between the place of production and the collection center or the place of first processing.
During the support period 2018-2022, a total of NOK 2 billion has been paid out.
The Swedish Agency for Agriculture has particularly analyzed the importance of the aid for milk production in the aid area, as the aid to companies that have dairy cows constitutes 90 percent of the total amount of aid paid.
The analysis shows that profitability is 25-50 percent lower in the support area than in a reference area in southern and central Sweden.
Analysis of accounting data from the year 2021 shows that without the national support for milk production, approximately 64 percent of the companies in the support area would have a zero profit or less in the long term.
This is a deterioration compared to 2017, when approximately 25 percent of the companies would have a zero result or less in the absence of support. The number of farms with dairy cows has also decreased every year during the period, a total of 27 percent.
"Although the results of our analyzes should be interpreted cautiously, together with the development of milk production, they show that the support for milk production in northern Sweden has not fully compensated for the area's production disadvantages," says Julia Marcopoulos, investigator at the Swedish Agency for Agriculture.
For all production orientations, the Swedish Agricultural Agency states that the total amount produced does not reach the reference level, which means that production has decreased compared to the time of EU entry.
For example, the production of potatoes is steadily decreasing and there was a sharp decrease in production for slaughter pigs and sows in 2022. Similar decreases in potato and pig production are not reflected in the rest of Sweden.
"The national support is of great importance to farmers, and there may be reasons to investigate the effects further in order to be able to design the support so that it fulfills its purpose in a better way," says Julia Marcopoulos. ■