Contract farming is an agreement between a farmer and a firm regarding the agricultural production. Studies have shown that contract farming can influence farmers in different ways. Positive aspects of contract farming is said to be that farmers get access to a bigger market, a secure source of income and valuable assistance from the companies that they have entered into a contract with. Negative aspects are foremost said to be that farmers may loose control over the production and feel that they do not have their independence left. Researchers also argue that contract farming can affect the structure within agriculture, which in many countries is dominated by family farm systems. Some therefore believe that contract farming could play a part in family farm systems changing or disappearing. This study applied a Marxist perspective and aimed to examine farmers and their experience of contract farming and how it might affect the structure within agriculture. An agricultural area in the southern parts of Sweden called Söderslätt was studied. The result showed that contract farming affected the farmers in various ways and that it in some terms can be a cause for changes within the structure of agriculture. Keywords: Söderslätt, contract farming, structural changes, family farm systems.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:su-119314 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Dahl, Celina |
| Publisher | Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för naturgeografi |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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