Pernilla Tidåker

Bioenergy From Agriculture : Challenges for the Rural Development Program in Sweden

ABSTRACT This article addresses the challenges for the EU Rural Development Program (RDP) to promote sustainable bioenergy production from agriculture. Drawing on the Swedish example, we identify opportunities for farmers and discuss agricultural-based bioenergy production in relation to the program objectives for agricultural competitiveness, sustainability and climate effects, and rural development. The sustainability and climate effects of agricultural-based bioenergy can be ascertained only through contextual analysis, and research indicates that rural development may be best promoted through local collaborative energy systems. Contrasting two ideal-type roles farmers may assume in bioenergy production, we discuss Swedish institutional contexts of energy production. In Sweden, the national energy policy tends to favor large-scale energy solutions and farmers taking on the roles as suppliers of primary products in large-scale energy systems. For RDP objectives to be realized, this tendency needs to be countered, local solutions need to be supported, and a national three-tiered energy policy integration needs to be furthered.

Closing the food loops: guidelines and criteria for improving nutrient management

Abstract As global consumption expands, the world is increasingly facing threats to resource availability and food security. To meet future food demands, agricultural resource efficiency needs to be optimized for both water and nutrients. Policy makers should start to radically rethink nutrient management across the entire food chain. Closing the food loop by recycling nutrients in food waste and excreta is an important way of limiting the use of mineral nutrients, as well as improving national and global food security. This article presents a framework for sustainable nutrient management and discusses the responsibility of four key stakeholder groups—agriculture, the food industry, consumers, and waste management—for achieving an effective food loop. In particular, we suggest a number of criteria, policy actions, and supporting strategies based on a cross-sectoral application of the waste hierarchy.

Role of Farmers in Improving the Sustainability of Sanitation Systems

The nutrient flow with excreta is one of the major plant nutrient flows in society. If these nutrients are recycled to arable soil in a safe and resource efficient way, the sustainability of the sanitation system can be increased. To achieve this, farmers using the excreta nutrients as fertilizers are just as essential as the toilet users. To get these recycling sanitation systems to function well, experience shows that it is very essential that the farmers participate already in the initial planning of the recycling sanitation system. Furthermore, the recycling sanitation system has many stakeholders and the recognition of the drivers and restrictions of each stakeholder is important for the functioning of the system as a whole. One important driver for many farmers is whether they can increase their business by taking responsibility for the collection and handling of the sanitation system fertilizer. The system has many stakeholders and it is for its long term performance, important that an arena for feed-back and interaction is organized.