During the last year’s Swedish agriculture have had difficult times, with decreasing
prices and at the same time increasing production costs, which has led to bad
profitability and faith in the future.
The dairies in Sweden have also had a rough time and there have been large
rationalizations during the years. In the beginning of the 20th century there were almost
1700 diaries in the Swedish countryside. There has been a large technical development
during the 20th century resulting in a decrease in diaries to only 46 in the whole country
today. They are owned by 15 diary companies, of which 7 large and dominate on the
market and the rest are small-scale companies.
With this development the confidence and feeling for the diary companies also has
decreased. Today it doesn’t matter for the customer from who they buy their milk
products from because it has become a bulk commodity. This has created an opportunity
for the farms that want to process their own products. When the customer buys these
products he/she knows were the raw material comes from and who has processed it. This
gives the product a higher value for the customers, which in the end gives a better
income to the producer. The research I have done shows that the interest for locally
produced, small-scale products has increased in Sweden during the last years.
During the last four years the number of small-scale diaries has increased to the double
and today there are 80 spread over almost the whole county. There are two exception,
Jämtlands- and Västra Götalands County where 30 of the 80 diaries are located.
These 80 diaries are the ones that have permission to sell their products to retailers.
Besides these companies there are many small diaries that just have permission to sell
their products on the own farm or on markets. The demand for these products seems to
increase for each year.
To get permission to process a product, you need to have a premises that are approved
by the local environmental office. These premises shall follow the regulation that the
National Food Administration have set up to guarantee a safe product to the consumers.
For the products that are sold directly to the consumer, the producer can get the premises
approved according to the regulations in SLVFS 1996:6 plus 4, 13, 18, 24, 27 § in
SLVFS 1994:13, reprinted 1998:41.
If the selling should go through a retailer you should instead use the regulation
SLVFS 1994:13, reprinted 1998:41, and you also have to apply for a control number.
These regulations will only be valid until the 1st of January in 2006 when there will be
new regulations from the EG. There will probably not be any significant change in the
rules except that the concept “from soil to table” will be more imp...
