Preservation of agricultural land is crucial for Sweden’s future food supply. However, agricultural land is regularly developed for other purposes, e.g. housing and infrastructure. This process is often, but not always irreversible. Since the market value of agricultural land does not reflect the entire value of future food production, instruments that protect agricultural land from overexploitation are necessary. In this project, we explore how Sweden protects agricultural land today, and analyse to what extent the protection needs to improve in order to account for the socio-economic value of agricultural land for future food supply. We also discuss possible policy instruments that could ensure that the socio-economic value of agricultural land is being considered in development decisions.

The project will be completed in 2023.