Abstract
Using an inductive quantitative approach, this article examines empirically the main characteristics of upland farming in the northern periphery of Sweden. This approach allows us to stepwise ‘reconstruct’ upland farming in its north Swedish manifestation. The data features farm-level and aggregated data from four municipalities stretching from the Bothnian Golf to the Norwegian border. The combination of GIS and advanced statistical analysis (clustering and regression) provides a robust evidence-base characterising upland farming at the nexus of multiple dimensions: territoriality (e.g. remote location, harsh climate, scattered settlement structure), style (e.g. labour extensive, small-scale, mixed farming) and livelihood (e.g. pluriactive, diversification, subsidy dependent). The article emphasizes the potentially central role of upland farming in bringing into coherent policy initiatives promoting sustainable community development in the periphery. The study also looks ahead and urges scholars to adopt more systematically mixed methods in future upland farming studies in order to render the complexity of this socio-spatial phenomenon.
Highlights
Viewed solely through the lens of the agricultural ‘productivist project’, small scale farming in Europe's sparsely populated north is an economic anomaly and a cultural relic of past agrarian societies
Small-scale farming epitomizes the interdependencies between nature, society and culture in rural communities (Sutherland et al, 2017)
Has the potential to contribute to community development if it can locate itself within an industrial environment that is otherwise acting against this model of agriculture
Summary
Viewed solely through the lens of the agricultural ‘productivist project’, small scale farming in Europe's sparsely populated north (referred to here as ‘upland farming’) is an economic anomaly and a cultural relic of past agrarian societies. In 2013, the European Parliament reasserted the importance of small-scale farming as a vector of agricultural and community development in rural areas across Europe (Parliament, 2013). Small-scale farming epitomizes the interdependencies between nature (including biodiversity and animal welfare), society (by providing stable local work force and ecosystem services) and culture (by perpetuating traditions and crafts) in rural communities (Sutherland et al, 2017). Has the potential to contribute to community development if it can locate itself within an industrial environment that is otherwise acting against this model of agriculture. As with Scotland, the Swedish case region is considered as ‘less-favoured’ both for the Common Agricultural
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