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A food system includes many processes and actors that interact at different levels to maintain human` access to food. As the need for the food increases due to population growth, the activities associated with obtaining the food led to pressure on the environment. Climate change, nitrogen and phosphorus flows, ocean acidification, biodiversity loss, and extinction of species are directly related to the agri-food system. Therefore, transforming food production in line with the principles of the SDGs is a major challenge for all of humanity. Aquaponics (AP) is an innovative method of food production that offers sustainability solutions and therefore may be an option for the agri-food transformation. The aim of this thesis was to understand the opportunities and barriers for AP development in Sweden and how AP may penetrate the mainstream market. A qualitative study was conducted with representatives of the Swedish agri-food system where the data was collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed throw the theoretical lens of the multi-level perspective (MLP) and the concept of protective space. Results showed that there are possibilities as well as blocking mechanisms for the development of AP in Sweden concerning conventional fish and vegetable production. To leave the innovation space and integrate into the market, it is necessary to transform the regime by stretching the legislation and changing the norms and routine for the AP integrated system. Since the AP product fits the norms of the market and the consumers food culture, its further distribution depends on enlightenment and marketing strategies.

One third of all food produced for human consumption globally is lost or wasted, making food waste a major problem from both an economic, social and environmental perspective. One way of preventing food waste is through legislation. In Sweden, food inspectors have been recommended to work according to the general rules of consideration (GRC) in the Swedish Environmental Code to reduce food waste. However, there is a lack of published information on whether the GRC are applied to reduce food waste at present, and, if so, how this works in practice. Moreover, the lack of a common standard for food waste quantification is a problem recognized by researchers. Thus, the present study aimed to examine whether and how the GRC are or can be applied to prevent food waste. More specifically, the goal was to investigate the attitude of municipal supervisory authorities and other relevant actors towards applying the GRC in food control, and to identify opportunities and / or obstacles to this. This is expected to contribute with knowledge that in the long term can generate supervisory approaches for reduced food waste. A qualitative research method was used including self-administered questionnaires. Answers were obtained from 11 municipalities and six additional actors including courts, national authorities and a private law firm. After a thematic analysis of the data, this was sorted to describe 1) The current situation in municipal supervision / the current application of the GRC according to other actors 2) The attitude towards applying the GRC in supervision for food waste reduction 3) The attitude towards suggested supervisory practices for reducing food wastage. The results showed that most of the actors surveyed did not apply the GRC to food waste currently, and none of them had issued injunctions to prevent food waste. Nevertheless, it was found that applying the GRC to food control could be possible, according to some practical experience in the field and the majority of the respondents' attitudes. No apparent unsolvable obstacles were identified. How the application of the GRC to food waste would work in practice remains to be solved, though. Consequently, the link between the current situation, the attitudes towards applying the GRC in food control as well as the attitudes towards suggested supervisory practices, was found to be ambiguous. Legal contradictions justify the need for further research, which could pursue the development of a supervisory approach for food waste prevention. ; En tredjedel av all mat som produceras globalt går förlorad eller slösas bort, vilket gör matsvinn till ett omfattande problem ur både ett ekonomiskt, socialt och miljömässigt perspektiv. Ett sätt att förebygga matsvinn är genom lagstiftning. I Sverige har livsmedelsinspektörer rekommenderats att arbeta enligt de allmänna hänsynsreglerna i miljöbalken för att minska matsvinnet. Det saknas emellertid publicerad information om huruvida hänsynsreglerna används för att minska matsvinn för närvarande, och hur detta i så fall fungerar i praktiken. Dessutom är avsaknaden av en gemensam standard för kvantifiering av matsvinn ett problem enligt forskare. Den aktuella studien syftade således till att undersöka om och hur miljöbalkens hänsynsregler tillämpas eller kan tillämpas för att förebygga matsvinn. Mer specifikt var målet att undersöka de kommunala tillsynsmyndigheternas och andra relevanta aktörers inställning till att tillämpa hänsynsreglerna i livsmedelskontroll och att identifiera möjligheter och / eller hinder för detta. Detta förväntas bidra med kunskap som på lång sikt kan generera tillsynsstrategier för minskat matsvinn. En kvalitativ forskningsmetod användes med självadministrerade frågeformulär. Svar erhölls från 11 kommuner och sex ytterligare aktörer, såsom domstolar, nationella myndigheter samt en privat juristbyrå. Efter en tematisk analys av den insamlade datan sorterades denna för att beskriva 1) Den aktuella situationen i kommunal tillsyn / den aktuella tillämpningen av hänsynsreglerna enligt andra aktörer 2) Inställningen till att tillämpa miljöbalkens hänsynsregler i tillsyn för att förebygga matsvinn 3) Attityden gentemot föreslagna tillsynspraxis för att förebygga matsvinn. Resultaten visade att majoriteten av de undersökta aktörerna inte tillämpade hänsynsreglerna på matsvinn för närvarande, och att ingen hade skrivit förelägganden för att förebygga matsvinn. Praktiska erfarenheter inom området samt majoriteten av respondenternas attityder avslöjade dock att det skulle kunna vara möjligt att tillämpa hänsynsreglerna mot matsvinn inom livsmedelskontroll. Inga uppenbart olösliga hinder identifierades. Hur tillämpningen av hänsynsreglerna på matsvinn skulle gå till i praktiken återstår dock att lösa. Följaktligen kunde det konstateras att kopplingen mellan den nuvarande situationen, respondenternas inställning till att tillämpa hänsynsreglerna i livsmedelskontrollen samt attityderna gentemot föreslagna tillsynspraxis var tvetydig. Juridiska motsättningar motiverar behovet av ytterligare forskning, som kan driva utvecklingen av en tillsynsstrategi för förebyggande av matsvinn.

Human activity affects planetary systems that support living on Earth and the food systems is a large contributor to overstepping the planetary boundaries. Global and national sustainability aims include targets for organic food production, during the latest years many countries have grown their organic food market share. However, the Swedish organic food market share growth stopped in 2016. The purpose of this study is to understand why the decline of the Swedish market share growth occurred and what the future might hold for the organic food category. This qualitative study has aimed to find answers through interviews with initiated persons in the Swedish food system. Results indicate that many changes in the political and societal landscape pressured the Organic food and the Organic food category transformed into the new Sustainability food category, presenting more competition for organic labelled food, together with plant-based, vegetarian and climate-friendly food. The rise of Swedish produced food, increasingly important from a national self-sufficiency and survival perspective, should be viewed as sustainable, and is also a competitor of organic food. The shine of organic food is often lost in the multi-faceted competition with the other sustainability and Swedish foods, but the market share has stayed at a stable level since 2016. Looking to the future, the new sustainability food category in Sweden will contain organic food but also locally produced food, that has been produced with more effective and environmentally friendly methods. The Swedish climate presents difficulties for year-round agriculture and the aim to become more self-sufficient needs to include locally produced meat, dairy, vegetable, and plant-based foods, indicating a need to focus innovation and development on Swedish food production and conservation methods. Socio-environmental sustainability aspects in Swedish food production, such as the unhealthy effects of mineral fertilizers and pesticide on all living species, should be ...

This review discusses food safety aspects of importance from a One Health perspective, focusing on Europe. Using examples of food pathogen/food commodity combinations, spread of antimicrobial resistance in the food web and the risk of transmission of zoonotic pathogens in a circular system, it demonstrates how different perspectives are interconnected. The chosen examples all show the complexity of the food system and the necessity of using a One Health approach. Food safety resources should be allocated where they contribute most One Health benefits. Data on occurrence and disease burden and knowledge of source attribution are crucial in assessing costs and benefits of control measures. Future achievements in food safety, public health and welfare will largely be based on how well politicians, researchers, industry, national agencies and other stakeholders manage to collaborate using the One Health approach. It can be concluded that closer cooperation between different disciplines is necessary to avoid silo thinking when addressing important food safety challenges. The importance of this is often mentioned, but more proof of concept is needed by the research community.

You may not have thought about why tomatoes look the way they do, why our pets and farm animals are so calm and friendly, or how it is possible to get a watermelon without any seeds in it. Although the breeding of plants and livestock have shaped more or less everything we eat, few people know about the scientific achievements and the tedious work that results in the food we see on our plates every day. With this book we wish to give an overview of the background of domestication and breeding, from the beginning of farming more than 10,000 years ago to the molecular work of today. We present the basics of the structures and functions of genes, describe why and how different breeding methods are applied to crops and livestock, and give some insight into legislation surrounding the use of biotechnology in breeding in the EU and in Sweden. We also provide an overview of different products produced through genetic modification, a summary of the economic impact of such crops, and some ethical issues related to breeding in general and to genetic modification in particular.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the biggest threats against public health in the world. Antimicrobial substances are used within all different sectors and contribute to development of AMR. Global action against irresponsible use of antibiotics and further development of AMR has been of great concern in the last years and risk factors are being pointed out. Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have a precarious role in the matter. Insufficient health care systems, poor law enforcement and, high accessibility of over-the-counter drugs (OTCs) are contributing to the unregulated use of antibiotics. Poorly developed surveillance programmes make it hard to correctly analyse the situation of both antimicrobial use (AMU) and AMR. Bangladesh, like its neighbouring countries, faces a lot of challenges regarding public health. One of the major concerns related to public health is access to safe food. Food products can be contaminated with toxins, chemical substances, and microbial organisms, including AMR-bacteria. Furthermore, national programmes for surveillance of AMU and AMR are inadequate. In this study, data from previously done field studies by Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute (BLRI), Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA), International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and newly collected information from interviews were put together to analyse the AMR situation in Bangladesh. Sampling of food products (tomato, chicken, fish) from traditional markets and supermarkets was done at three locations representing rural, peri-urban, and urban areas from November 2018 to June 2019. Samples were tested for prevalence of Salmonella spp, Escherichia coli, Vibrio cholerae. Samples positive for bacteria were tested for antimicrobial susceptibility through disc diffusion test. As a supplement to the analysis of samples, questionnaires to the vendors of the food products were made to provide background information. During 2020, statistical analysis of previously collected data and interviews with stakeholders working with AMR was made. The interviews aimed to serve as baseline information about current conditions regarding AMU and AMR. 320 cultivations of 1589 (20.1%) were positive for bacterial prevalence. 319 of these were tested for antimicrobial susceptibility where 203 (63.6%) were found to be multidrug-resistant (MDR) (resistant to three or more antibiotic groups). Furthermore, interviews with stakeholders stated that surveillance of AMU and AMR in Bangladesh is inadequate, especially within the animal and agriculture sector, and that a one health approach on a government level is needed to improve the situation. To be able to fully analyse the AMR situation in Bangladesh, a nation-wide study would need to be conducted, within all sectors, including both AMU and AMR testing.

Public catering can have a considerable environmental and educational impact. A scenario of more legume and less meat consumption in Sweden was in the present study used as a tool to explore the possibilities of Swedish public school meals to become more sustainable. Strong structuration theory provided a focus on organisational structure and stakeholder influence, enabling a holistic view of the issue at hand. A literature review, on the topics of successful implementation of sustainability projects within public catering and individual agency within school meals, provided a knowledge base from which an online survey and a guide for complementary interviews were built. The survey was aimed at municipal dietary managers and assessed their experiences of working with sustainable school meals and their attitudes towards the dietary scenario. Furthermore, the survey tried out a way of measuring how much legumes and meat are served in school canteens. The complementary interviews focused on individual actors' perceived agency to act for sustainable change. The results suggest that the study participants in general have both the knowledge and interest to make school meals more sustainable. They also saw the more legumes dietary scenario as desirable. Complicating factors are that the priorities of catering organisations and schools are often not well aligned, and resources are lacking to work on collaborations to improve this. It is also often unclear who has the responsibility to make sure teaching on sustainability is carried over from the classroom to the canteen. Individual agents with a high motivation to make positive change can be important drivers of sustainability projects, but for a change such as significantly greener school meals to take place, a whole food culture needs to change. Educational efforts and finding ways of engaging multiple stakeholders in the decisions are needed to this end. Unambiguous political goals, with adequate action plans, would give structure to the work on more sustainable school meals. Finding ways of quantifying and comparing sustainability efforts between municipalities would draw attention to the importance of the matter. The approach that was tried out in the present study however proved to be too impractical to use.

The global growth in energy demand continues, but the way of meeting rising energy needs is not sustainable. The use of biomass energy is a widely accepted strategy towards sustainable development that sees the fastest rate with the most of increase in power generation followed by strong rises in the consumption of biofuels for transport. Agriculture, forestry and wood energy sector are the leading sources of biomass for bioenergy. However, to be acceptable, biomass feedstock must be produced sustainably. Bioenergy from sustainably managed systems could provide a renewable and carbon neutral source of energy. Bioenergy systems can be relatively complex, intersectoral and site- and scale-specific. The environmental benefits of biomass-for-energy production systems can vary strongly, depending on site properties, climate, management system and input intensities. Bioenergy supply is closely linked to issues of water and land use. It is important to understand the effects of introducing it as well as it is necessary to promote integrated and synergic policies and approaches in the sectors of forestry, agriculture, energy, industry and environment. Biofuels offer attractive solutions to reducing GHG emissions, addressing energy security concerns and have also other socio-economic advantages. Currently produced biofuels are classified as first-generation. Some first-generation biofuels, such as for example ethanol from corn possibly have a limited role in the future transport fuel mix, other ones such as ethanol from sugarcane or biodiesel made from oils extracted from rerennial crops, as well as non-food and industrial crops requiring minimal input and maintenance and offering several benefits over conventional annual crops for ethanol production are promising. Sugarcane ethanol has greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions avoidance potential; can be produced sustainably; can be cost effective without governments support mechanisms, provide useful and valuable co-products; and, if carefully managed with due regard given to sustainable land use, can support the drive for sustainable development in many developing countries. Sugarcane ethanol - currently the most effective biofuel at displacing GHG emissions - is already mitigating GHGs in Brazil. Jatropha curcas L., a multipurpose, drought resistant, perennial plant has gained lot of importance for the production of biodiesel. However, it is important to point out that nearly all of studies have overstated the impacts of first-generation biofuels on global agricultural and land markets due to the fact that they have ignored the role of biofuel by-products. However, feed by-products of first-generation biofuels, such as dried distillers grains with soluble and oilseed meals are used in the livestock industry as protein and energy sources mitigates the price impacts of biofuel production as well as reduce the demand for cropland and moderate the indirect land use consequences. The production of second generation biofuels is expected to start within a few years. Many of the problems associated with first-generation biofuels can be solved by the production of second generation biofuels manufactured from abundant ligno-cellulosic materials such as cereal straw, sugar cane bagasse, forest residues, wastes and dedicated feedstocks (purpose-grown vegetative grasses, short rotation forests and other energy crops). These feedstocks are not food competitive, do not require additional agricultural land and can be grown on marginal and wasteland. Depending on the feedstock choice and the cultivation technique, second-generation biofuel production has the potential to provide benefits such as consuming waste residues and making use of abandoned land. As much as 97-98% of GHG emissions could be avoided by substituting a fossil fuel with wood fuel. Forest fertilization is an attractive option for increasing energy security and reducing net GHG emission. In addition to carbon dioxide the emissions of methane and nitrous oxides may be important factors in GHG balance of biofuels. Forest management rules, best practices for nitrogen fertilizer use and development of second generation technologies use reduce these emissions. Soils have an important role in the global budget of greenhouse gases. However, the effects of biomass production on soil properties are entirely site and practice-specific and little is known about long-term impact. Soil biological systems are resilient and they do not show any lasting impacts due to intensive site management activities. Land management practices can change dramatically the characteristic and gas exchange of an ecosystem. GHG benefits from biomass feedstock use are in some cases significantly lower if the effects of direct¹ or indirect (ILUC²) land use change are taken into account. LUC and ILUC can impact the GHG emission by affecting carbon balance in soil and thus ecosystem. To understand carbon fluxes in an ecosystem large ecosystem units and time scale are critical. Mitigation measures of the impact of land use change on greenhouse gas emissions include the use of residues as feedstock, cultivation of feedstock on abandoned arable land and use of feedstock by-products as substitutes for primary crops as animal feed. Cropping management is the other key factor in estimating GHG emissions associated with LUC and there is significant opportunity to reduce the potential carbon debt and GHG emissions through improved crop and soil management practices, including crop choice, intensity of inputs, harvesting strategy, and tilling practices. Also a system with whole trees harvesting with nutrient compensation is closely to being greenhouse-gas-neutral. Biochar applied to the soil offers a direct method for sequestrating C and generating bioenergy. However, the most recent studies showing that emissions resulting from ILUC are significant have not been systematically compared and summarized and current practices for estimating the effects of ILUC suffer from large uncertainties. Therefore, it seems to be delicate to include the ILUC effects in the GHG emission balance at a country level. The land availability is an important factor in determining bioenergy sustainability. However, even though food and biofuel/biomass can compete for land, this is not inevitably the case. The pattern of completion competition will e.g. depend on whether food security policies are in place. Moreover, the great potential for uncomplicated biomass production lies in using residues and organic waste, introduction of second generation biofuels which are more efficient in use of land and bioresources as well as restoration of degraded and wasted areas. Agroforestry has high potential for simultaneously satisfying many important objectives at ecosystems, economic and social levels. For example, as a very flexible, but low-input system, alley cropping can supply biomass resources in a sustainable way and at the same time provide ecological benefits in Central Europe. A farming system that integrates woody crops with conventional agricultural crops/pasture can more fully utilize the basic resources of water, carbon dioxide, nutrients, and sunlight, thereby producing greater total biomass yield. Overall, whether food prices will rise in parallel to an increase in biofuel demand will depend, more on trade barriers, subsidies, policies and limitations of marketing infrastructure than on lack of physical capacity. There are plant species that provide not only biofuel resources but also has the potential to sequestrate carbon to soil. For example, reed canary grass (RCG, Phalaris arundinacea L.) indicates the potential as a carbon sink. Harvest residues are increasingly utilized to produce energy. Sweden developed a series of recommendations and good-practice guidelines (GPG) for whole tree harvesting practices. Water has a multifarious relationship to energy. Biofuel production will have a relatively minor impact on the global water use. It is critically important to use low-quality water sources and to select the crops and countries that (under current production circumstances) produce bioenergy feedstock in the water-efficient way. However, local and regional impacts of biofuel production could be substantial. Knowledge of watershed characteristics, local hydrology and natural peak flow patterns coupled with site planning, location choice and species choice, are all factors that will determine whether or not this relationship is sustainable. For example, bioethanol's water requirements can range from 5 to 2138 L per liter of ethanol depending on regional irrigation practices. Moreover, sugarcane in Brazil evaporates 2,200 liters for every liter of ethanol, but this demand is met by abundant rainfall. Biomass production can have both positive and negative effects on species diversity. However, woodfuel production systems as well as agroforestry have the potential to increase biodiversity. A regional energy planning could have an important role to play in order to achieve energy-efficient and cost-efficient energy systems. Closing the loop through the optimization of all resources is essential to minimize conflicts in resource requirements as a result of increased biomass feedstock production. A systems approach where the agricultural, forestry, energy, and environmental sectors are considered as components of a single system, and environmental liabilities are used as recoverable resources for biomass feedstock production has the potential to significantly improve the economic, social, and environmental sustainability of biofuels. The LCA (life cycle analysis) approach takes into account all the input and output flows occurring in biomass production systems. The source of biomass has a big impact on LCA outcomes and there is a broad agreement in the scientific community that LCA is one of the best methodologies for the GHG balance calculation of biomass systems. Overall, maximizing benefits of bioenergy while minimizing negative impacts is most likely to occur in the presence of adequate knowledge and frameworks, such as for example certification systems, policy and guidelines. Criteria for achieving sustainability and best land use practices when producing biomass for energy must be established and adopted. ___________ ¹ Direct land-use change occurs when feedstock for biofuels purposes (e.g. soybean for biodiesel) displace a prior land-use (e.g. forest), thereby generating possible changes in the carbon stock of that land. ² Indirect land-use change (ILUC) occurs when pressure on agriculture due to the displacement of previous activity or use of the biomass induces land-use changes on other lands.

This thesis examines the question of organization, governance and choice of seeds in Swedish agriculture. It consists of four papers: Paper I investigates the evolution of plant breeding industry in Sweden. The results suggest that the establishment of intellectual property rights (IPRs) schemes creates power in the seed value chain in Sweden and has therefore been a major driver of mergers and acquisitions, together with changes in domestic agricultural policy as well the country´s entrance to EU. Based on nationwide survey among farmers, papers II and III examine the impact of IPRs and specifically the implications of the enforcement of Plant Breeders Rights on farmers´ choice between certified versus farm saved seed (FSS). Paper II uses transaction cost theory and logistics regression to examine empirically the governance structure of farmers choosing certified or FSS. Farmers´ assessment of the quality seed in terms of the genetic purity of each channel has no impact on their choice while personal relations with their upstream partners, investments in the farm as well as delivery contracts affect their procurement strategy. In paper III, spatial autoregressive models are used in order to analyze the transfer of "know-how" between farmers, and the spillover effects of social learning in farmers´ choice of seed channel. Farmers are distinguished between neighbors, based on their relative distance; and peers, based on membership in farmers' cooperatives. The results indicate the existence of spatial dependence on Swedish farmers' choice of seed channel. Paper IV evaluates the impact of farmers' social networks on their decision to be involved in the governance of the agricultural cooperative. The findings suggest a relationship between network characteristics and farmers' involvement in the governance that persists over a long period.

The aim of introducing agroforestry and community-based forestry is to secure and improve livelihoods, maintain and restore ecosystem services, and contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation. However, the adoption and scaling up of these systems among food insecure communities have proved to be difficult. To better understand why, I identified barriers and bridges at different adoption stages and levels of governance. These were analysed using policy narratives and the sustainable livelihood approach in the light of sustainable development, sustainability and resilience of landscapes. The first stage was the negotiation process between the Swedish NGO Vi-Skogen and the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) about funding. Three explanatory approaches were used: organizational, power and context. Vi-Skogen and Sida were caught in policy incompatibility dilemmas that slowed down the NGO policy process, and delayed critical changes that could have improved project outcomes. The second was Vi-Skogen's agroforestry project in Tanzania's Mara Region. A random sample of 21 households was drawn from each of 89 project villages. The proportion of households with surviving agroforestry trees varied from 10-90 % among villages. Field training and visits to farmers with good practices were important for households to start planting trees. Local collaboration, perceived ownership of trees and benefits of trees for crop production were additional factors important for households' decision to continue with agroforestry practices. The third was eleven community-based forest producer and user groups (CBFGs) in eastern and southern Africa. Development of many groups had stagnated and few had managed to develop large scale value-added production. I identified eight barriers and four bridges that influenced the scaling up process of agroforestry and community based forestry among food insecure households. All resulted from interactions among social, political, and economic structures and processes at multiple ...