The project studies environmental and social sustainability of alternative food networks (AFNs) in Jönköping County, Sweden by investigating the development of alternative food networks as part of a pre-study for Region Jönköping’s Län project Återtag av livsmedel från Naturbruksskolorna i länet till sjukhusrestaurangerna. The purpose of the study was to identify challenges and opportunities of implementing AFNs and to determine suggestions for overcoming these challenges. The purpose was achieved by investigating Region Jönköping Län's project to implement meat and vegetables produced by Jönköping County's agricultural high schools into the kitchens of the regional hospitals to become meals for patients and visitors.

Improved production and reduced consumption of beef is often highlighted as key aspects for tackling sustainability issues of the food system because the environmental impact of beef is ~100 times higher than plant-based foods. Both scientist and civil society organisations argue that eating “less but better” beef is important for sustainability. Better quality can encompass better eating quality as well as improved sustainability, but despite the two being very important for overall quality, very little research on interactions between them exists. No tools, applicable in Sweden, allowing for joint assessment have been developed. This study investigates the synergies and trade-offs between eating quality and environmental sustainability by using Swedish beef production as a case study. It reviews peer reviewed literature on factors that contribute to eating quality (flavour, tenderness and juiciness), and four factors that contribute to environmental sustainability (climate, biodiversity, feed/food competition and animal welfare). Based on the findings, an indicator-based sustainability assessment framework and a meat quality grading scheme differentiating Premium and Standard eating quality is developed, aimed to be practical tools for Swedish beef assessments. The study provides a systems-based understanding of synergies and trade-offs that may occur when “less but better” is presented as a strategy for tackling the environmental impact of beef. Results show that there are synergies between eating quality and biodiversity, animal welfare and with the right choices of feed, feed/food competition but with consequent trade-offs with climate impact. The discussion addresses the potential of enhanced eating quality to increase the profitability of Swedish beef production without consequent substantial negative impact on sustainability. The suggested methods have the potential to facilitate a shift from quantity- to quality-based consumption, but further empirical studies are required.

The Amazon has experienced rapid forest loss in the past decades due to the growing colonization, infrastructure development and commercial agriculture expansion. Understanding the underlying social, political and economic drivers of deforestation is key to curb deforestation of the Amazon basin. However, analysis of deforestation has primarily been conducted in Brazil and there is a need to study this phenomenon in other countries such as Colombia. This research intends to contribute to this growing body of knowledge to better understand drivers and processes of deforestation in the Northwestern Colombian Amazon by unpacking the causal mechanism underpinning deforestation. To achieve this, I a used Theory-building Process-tracing approach to conceptualize the underlying logics of deforestation in the region. Data collection included qualitative text analysis of policy documents, articles, reports, and grey literature, and virtual semi-structured interviews with key national, regional and local actors. Interviews’ format was adapted due to current travelling and social restrictions. Findings indicate that the power vacuum resulting from FARC guerrilla demobilization acted as a window of opportunity for peasants, squatters, narco-traffickers, cattle ranchers, landlords and other investors to access public lands and capitalize from converting forests to coca crops and pastures for cattle ranching. Capital accumulation has increased actors’ ability to reshape the landscape and societal organization by accumulating different forms and sources of power. Traditional elites, and old and emerging narco-bourgeoisie have capitalized on preexisting power asymmetries by disproportionally accumulating different social power seeking to consolidate territorial hegemony. Powerful actors exercise attained sources and forms of power to dispose historically marginalized groups – such as indigenous communities, peasants, and squatters – from their means of subsistence and production, resulting in the instauration of a capitalist economy based on land rent and drug trafficking. All this has deepened forest loss, inequalities and conflict over land access between actors.

Despite 25 years of concerted efforts by African governments to adopt consistent policies for increasing food production, hunger and poverty are still prevalent in the continent. Using Bernanke's conceptualization of the credit channel theory of monetary policy, the purpose of this correlational study was to investigate whether a subsidy program, the National Accelerated Agricultural Inputs Access Program (NAAIAP), affected the rates of fertilizer usage and food production in Kakamega County, Western Kenya. Purposive stratified sampling was used to select 114 participants consisting of 72 farmers in each of the 2 groups: NAAIAP beneficiaries and nonbeneficiaries. Participants completed a survey on fertilizer usage rates, income earned, and surplus maize yield. Data were analyzed using multiple regression to test whether there was a difference between the beneficiary and nonbeneficiary groups regarding income, surplus product, and the dependent variable of fertilizer usage. Results indicated that beneficiaries of NAAIAP credit program bought and prepared to use fertilizers significantly earlier than did their counterparts. Further, the results of multiple regression indicated significant positive correlation (p <.05) between income earned from sale of surplus maize yield and quantity of fertilizer used by farmers in Kakamega County. These findings suggest that NAAIAP improved food security and farmers' income in Kakamega Count. This study contributes to social change by recommending to subsidy program administrators in Kakamega County to consider policy changes. Such policy changes may improve program outreach to resource-poor farmers and improve income and product yield in the agricultural sector of Kenya.

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Carbon storage in agricultural soils is an important measure to mitigate climate change. As the soil management techniques can greatly influence the amount of carbon stored in agricultural soils, the influence of different managements was analyzed in a literature review for northern Europe and Sweden. With a unique dataset, the temporal development of soil organic matter, and in a case study the influence of SOM on crop yield in Sweden was examined, as well as the relationship of SOM towards clay content and pH level. For northern Europe, organic amendments in form of manure and sewage sludge application and crop residue incorporation as well as nitrogen fertilization and diverse crop rotations indicate a positive impact on soil organic carbon. The influence of reduced tillage was found to be less impactful. Detailed development of SOM in Swedish agricultural fields remains unclear due to data restraints and scarcity, but for the Skåne region the data analysis suggests a stable SOM content for the time period analyzed. The relationship of SOM to crop yield remains unclear but indicates that SOM can have a positive effect on crop yield. More research is needed to understand underlying mechanisms of development, management influence and yield response on soil organic carbon for northern Europe.

Commercial carrot processors produce up to 175,000 tons of carrot waste annually. Carrot Mash (CM) is the term referring to the waste by-product of peeled baby carrot processing. Transportation of carrot processing waste is expensive due to its high- water content (approx. 83-95%). High in bioactive compounds (carotenoids) and dietary fibers, it is expected that its conversion into a value-added by-product is of interest to the carrot processing industry. Hemicellulose-rich plant materials have proven to be a source of oligosaccharides, which are known for their beneficial prebiotic activity. The objectives of this research were to: 1) determine the effect of mechanical treatments on the extraction of water and bioactive compounds and evaluate the functional properties of carrot mash; 2) incorporate dried carrot mash into a beef patty and evaluate changes in pH, color, cooking yield, and texture; 3) apply an enzymatic treatment to carrot mash to promote the conversion of polysaccharides to oligosaccharides for prebiotic benefits. Mechanical separation of liquid and solid fractions by way of expeller pressing was efficient in extracting liquid while simultaneously increasing total solids by nearly 200%, the extraction of carotenoids by 1000%, and polyphenol content by nearly 97%. Mechanical treatments increased the fat binding capacity on average by 183% compared to untreated mash. The addition of unpressed carrot mash or expeller pressed carrot mash increased the cooking yield of a beef patty by 3-13% without significantly changing its textural properties. Enzymatically treating the carrot mash significantly increased the concentration of oligosaccharides up to 2.3%. These results suggest that carrot processing wastes can be physically and enzymatically modified and have an immense potential to be utilized as a functional ingredient in human food rather than being landfilled, composted or used as animal feed.

Weed control is an integral part of a successful overall production strategy in row- cropping systems and has the potential to reduce or eliminate yield losses that negatively affect profitability. Timely and correctly selected herbicide applications are the major keys for effective weed control in a majority of instances. However, there are negative factors that contribute to ineffectiveness and weed escape issues that currently lack viable options for management. Sparsely populated late-season weeds that emerge after lay-by herbicide applications and weeds that have become tolerant and resistant to traditional herbicide chemistries are of greatest concern. Historically, these weeds would have been pulled or chopped by hand or removed by cultivation, but with current production strategies built around conservation tillage and herbicide management practices, blanket disturbance of the soil through plowing is not a viable option. There is an immediate need for site-specific weed management to address these weed escapes while minimizing soil disturbance that reduces residual herbicide efficacy and lessens moisture losses that negatively effects the growing crop

Verticillium wilt is a widespread soilborne disease of strawberry historically controlled by soil fumigation with methyl bromide (MB). MB was banned by the United Nations in 1995 and will be completely phased out by 2015. Research has concentrated on alternative methods of disease control without finding a single alternative able to replace MB in widespread disease control and yield increase. For the current study, strawberries were greenhouse grown in container pots filled with soil from both infested and non-infested areas of a commercial strawberry field in Watsonville, CA. Treatments included pre-plant soil fumigation with commercially available formulations of methyl bromide, chloropicrin, and 1, 3-Dichloropropene. Additional treatments included ozone gas (six treatments) and biological control (three treatments). Collected data included total plant yield, individual berry weight, number of fruit produced per plant, plant vegetative weight, infection status, and mineral concentration of fruit (calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc, manganese, carbon, and nitrogen). Plants grown in ‘clean’ soil were less likely than plants grown in ‘infested’ soil to be infected with Verticillium. Plants grown in soil treated with MB had higher plant weight and yield than did non-treated control. Ozone and biological control treatments did not have statistically higher yield than non-treated control plants nor statistically lower yield than plants grown in soil treated with MB. Individual berry weights had a narrow range while the number of berries produced per treatment had a wide range. Data suggests strawberry yield is dependent on the number of berries produced per plant. Plants with high vegetative weight produced the highest yield suggesting large plants produce many berries resulting in higher yield.

An increasing wave of critique against conventional forestry favouring even-aged monoculture plantations and intense ground preparation in Sweden is arising, where some researchers are warning about the negative consequences of the long history of intense forestry and increasing extraction due to the growing demand for bioenergy has caused devastating consequences on ecosystems in forests such as loss of biodiversity. Additionally, reports are revealing that Sweden will not meet its own national environmental goals. Meantime, a growing interest in Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF) has increased due to prioritising biodiversity and conserving ecological and social values in the forests. Therefore, this study aims to explore pathways towards more diverse and varied forest management by examining the attitudes, existing support and required incentives for stakeholders in the Swedish forest sector towards an increase of CCF. This study follows an interpretive approach, where qualitative semi-structured interviews are conducted with different actors within the Swedish forest sector along with a literature review. The empirical data is analysed through a coding procedure and analysed with the multi-level perspective approach. The main findings of this study suggest that the existing attitude and support contribute as well as prevent an increase of CCF to some extent, however, the required incentives are crucial for forest actors’ ability to increase CCF. To conclude, the incentives are discussed to affect the ability to increase CCF, and if implemented, the incentives will in turn influence the attitudes of willingness to increase CCF and the existing support to develop in relation to CCF.