Kumm, Karl-Ivar and Hessle, Anna
(2020).
Economic Comparison between Pasture-Based Beef Production and Afforestation of Abandoned Land in Swedish Forest Districts.
Land. 9
, 1-20
[Journal article]
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Abstract
Large areas of agricultural land have been abandoned or are at risk of being abandoned such as small scattered fields and pastures in forest-dominated landscapes are unsuitable for modern mechanized agriculture and cost-efficient grazing. These areas have therefore become unprofitable to cultivate and graze. Spruce planting has been seen as the obvious alternative on these lands but is today questioned from landscape points of view. Now most abandoned land is left for natural afforestation. This study aims to compare the profitability in use of abandoned or marginal agricultural land in Swedish forest districts for spruce planting, natural birch afforestation, or organic beef cattle grazing large pasture-forest mosaics. The pastures consist of remaining semi-natural pastures, abandoned and marginal agricultural land, and adjacent forest land. Calculations of contribution to land, management, and risk suggest that, given present supports and environmental payments, organic beef production with herds of more than 20 suckler cows in large pasture-forest mosaics could be more profitable than forestry, except for in the most fertile areas of southern Sweden, where spruce planting has the highest contribution. Future tree breeding progress and possible decrease of livestock-related support and environmental payments would however increase the competitiveness of resumed afforestation relative to beef production.
Authors/Creators: | Kumm, Karl-Ivar and Hessle, Anna | ||||||
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Title: | Economic Comparison between Pasture-Based Beef Production and Afforestation of Abandoned Land in Swedish Forest Districts | ||||||
Series Name/Journal: | Land | ||||||
Year of publishing : | 2020 | ||||||
Volume: | 9 | ||||||
Page range: | 1-20 | ||||||
Number of Pages: | 20 | ||||||
Publisher: | MDPI | ||||||
ISSN: | 2073-445X | ||||||
Language: | English | ||||||
Publication Type: | Journal article | ||||||
Article category: | Scientific peer reviewed | ||||||
Version: | Published version | ||||||
Copyright: | Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 | ||||||
Full Text Status: | Public | ||||||
Subjects: | (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 5 Social Sciences > 502 Economics and Business > Economics (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 4 Agricultural Sciences > 401 Agricultural, Forestry and Fisheries > Forest Science (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 4 Agricultural Sciences > 402 Animal and Dairy Science > Animal and Dairy Science. | ||||||
Keywords: | agricultural land, pasture, abandonment, beef, suckler cow, afforestation, forestry, spruce, landscape, climate, profitability | ||||||
URN:NBN: | urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-p-104945 | ||||||
Permanent URL: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-p-104945 | ||||||
Additional ID: |
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ID Code: | 16794 | ||||||
Faculty: | VH - Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science | ||||||
Department: | (VH) > Dept. of Animal Environment and Health | ||||||
Deposited By: | SLUpub Connector | ||||||
Deposited On: | 27 Apr 2020 13:22 | ||||||
Metadata Last Modified: | 20 Oct 2020 10:10 |
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