Food systems are facing increasing pressure to adapt to the local, regional and global implications of the climate crisis while reducing the environmental impacts of food production and retaining their competitiveness on increasingly connected agri-food markets. Many suggested aspects of a more resilient, sustainable model of food production are directly linked to decisions made on individual farms. However, there are known social-ecological traps that limit farmers’ capacity to break away from unsustainable paths. This thesis investigates the impact of trap dynamics on the incidence of sustainability transitions on Finnish farms – for example, transitions from animal to plant agriculture, or from monoculture to crop diversity. I use national tax records and interviews with regenerative farmers to identify patterns and circumstances that preclude farmers’ ability to carry out sustainability transitions, and to describe strategies used by regenerative farmers to enhance their agency and avert traps. My findings indicate that rigid governance and market structures, an increasing burden of debt and intensifying ecological pressures converge to create, sustain and exacerbate social-ecological traps. Finally, this thesis suggests that the existence of farm-level traps may hamper attempts to address food system lock- ins across scales, diminishing the system’s capacity to respond to shocks and changing circumstances.

The notion that the world's food system is in crisis is becoming more common. Such arguments point to a slew of problems, ranging from malnutrition, poverty, and obesity to industrial farming, overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, low food security, environmental destruction, biodiversity depletion, animal health, as well as corporate domination and a lack of resilience. The rates of soil erosion vastly transcend that of soil formation, implying that a third of the soils have a lifetime of fewer than 200 years. The current interest in Regenerative agriculture has taken root in this sense, where any part of farming, distribution, food processing, and consumption is being debated. The concept of “regenerative agriculture" has been an accepted practice for a long time, but there has been a renewed interest in it in recent years. This study thus aims to identify the frictions and tractions for regenerative agriculture in Sweden, from a producer perspective, to investigate the future of sustainable agriculture in the country. This study is based on two sources of data: the first and principal are semi-structured interviews with Swedish regenerative producers; the second is a survey conducted by Swedish regenerative producers. The results showed an evident dissatisfaction with the Swedish agricultural system regarding subsidies and regulations as well as a strong personal ideological motivation for regenerative practices amongst the participants. The results argue that a restructure of the Swedish agricultural system is crucial if innovative and sustainable alternatives, such as Regenerative agriculture, are to thrive and the national sustainability- and food security goals are to be achieved.

Sveriges livsmedelssystem står inför stora utmaningar såsom negativ miljöpåverkan och beroendet av att importera både livsmedel och insatsvaror. Livsmedelsproduktionen, som idag domineras av det konventionella jordbruket, har bland annat inneburit utarmade jordar och exploaterade resurser samt utsläpp av gifter. Studien syftar till att sammanställa och jämföra den vetenskapliga forskningen och samhällsdebatten angående alternativ livsmedels-produktion. Studien är avgränsad till att redogöra för produktionssystemen regenerativa jordbruk och akvaponiska system. Den vetenskapliga forskningen angående regenerativa jordbruk och akvaponiska system sammanställdes i ett kunskapsläge. En kvalitativ innehållsanalys utfördes för att identifiera och sammanställa samhällsdebatten kring systemen. Samhällsdebatten rörande de två alternativa livsmedelsproduktionssystemen bildade följande teman: den samordnande rösten, den offentliga rösten, forskarens röst, den operativa rösten, samt den övriga rösten. Inom dessa teman identifierades följande sex kodord: livsmedelsförsörjning, miljömässiga aspekter, ekonomiska aspekter, sociala aspekter, utmaningar samt möjligheter. I vår undersökning har vi inte formulerat några nya begrepp, däremot har vi funnit samband såväl som avvikelser och glapp mellan samhällsdebatten och den vetenskapliga forskningen. / Sweden's food system faces major challenges such as negative environmental impact and is dependent on importing both food and intermediate goods. Food production, which today is dominated by conventional agriculture, has meant, among other things, depleted soils and exploited resources as well as emissions of toxins. This study aims to compile and compare the scientific research and the public debate regarding alternative food production systems. The study is limited to account for the production systems regenerative agriculture and aquaponic systems. The scientific research regarding regenerative agriculture and aquaponic systems was compiled in a state of knowledge. A qualitative content analysis was performed to identify and compile the public debate about the systems. The public debate concerning alternative food production systems formed the following themes: the coordinating voice, the public voice, the researcher's voice, the operational voice, and the miscellaneous voice. Within these themes, the following six code words were identified: food supply, environmental aspects, economic aspects, social aspects, challenges and opportunities. In our study, we have not formulated any new concepts, however, we have found connections as well as discrepancies and gaps between the public debate and the scientific research.