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Klimatanpassning i en historisk kontext- En studie om den västsvenska landsbygdens klimatanpassning och utveckling under 1800-talet.

Häggander, Wilhelm LU (2015) MVEM30 20151
Studies in Environmental Science
Abstract (Swedish)
In Sweden there are many people who take the food on our tables for granted, there is rarely anyone who reflects on the fact that it was hard work behind. The situation has not always been like that. During the late 1800s there were still many people living in rural areas and their livelihood was farming. Their jobs and mundane chore was to produce, if not the whole, but parts of the food that would later be consumed in the household. The studied period in this paper was colder than today, and people therefore had to adapt to this. The study's purpose is therefore to examine how society could adapt to the current climate. The study is therefore based on material from Statistics Sweden but also historical meteorological data from SMHI.
... (More)
In Sweden there are many people who take the food on our tables for granted, there is rarely anyone who reflects on the fact that it was hard work behind. The situation has not always been like that. During the late 1800s there were still many people living in rural areas and their livelihood was farming. Their jobs and mundane chore was to produce, if not the whole, but parts of the food that would later be consumed in the household. The studied period in this paper was colder than today, and people therefore had to adapt to this. The study's purpose is therefore to examine how society could adapt to the current climate. The study is therefore based on material from Statistics Sweden but also historical meteorological data from SMHI.
This study shows how the western Swedish farmers changed their way of farming. This was done by the previous land consolidation reforms made possible a more large-scale agriculture and individual responsibility had to be higher. A colder climates generally generated smaller harvests, but when agricultural society had undergone major change through land parcelling and new technological innovations had entered the market as farmers were able to maintain production even in years with low average temperatures. The study also shows how farmers came to have more animals on farms, to produce both meat and dairy products. Farmers also came to increase potato cultivation which gave large harvests and gave a more differentiated work and facilitated the work of sowing and harvesting. The study also shows that growing oats was an important crop to grow as it not only could be consumed by the farmer himself but it was also important as animal feed.
However, it can be difficult to draw general conclusions over larger areas where the geographical area is important for people. Since Sweden is long and narrow, there are natural differences between north and south. (Less)
Popular Abstract (Swedish)
Wilhelm Häggander


Västsvenska jordbrukares klimatanpassning under 1800-talet

Miljö, klimat och temperatur är något som spelar in på människor sätt att leva och möjlighet till försörjning. Under 1800-talet var en stor del av den svenska befolkningen jordbrukare och jordbruket svarade till stor del också för deras försörjning. Lantbefolkningen var därför tvungen att anpassa sig till de förändringar i klimatet som skedde under tidernas gång.

Den agrara revolutionen har länge varit i fokus gällande de förändringar som skedde i det svenska jordbruket, men också i andra delar av Europa. Den agrara revolutionen behandlar många olika teorier för hur jordbruket förändrades, men där det har lämnats ett tomrum angående temperatur och i... (More)
Wilhelm Häggander


Västsvenska jordbrukares klimatanpassning under 1800-talet

Miljö, klimat och temperatur är något som spelar in på människor sätt att leva och möjlighet till försörjning. Under 1800-talet var en stor del av den svenska befolkningen jordbrukare och jordbruket svarade till stor del också för deras försörjning. Lantbefolkningen var därför tvungen att anpassa sig till de förändringar i klimatet som skedde under tidernas gång.

Den agrara revolutionen har länge varit i fokus gällande de förändringar som skedde i det svenska jordbruket, men också i andra delar av Europa. Den agrara revolutionen behandlar många olika teorier för hur jordbruket förändrades, men där det har lämnats ett tomrum angående temperatur och i förlängningen klimatet. Hur påverkades den agrara revolutionen av de rådande klimatförändringarna? Det svenska jordbruket med korta odlingssäsonger är sårbart för förändringar i klimatet och människor har behövt att vara anpassningsbara och noggranna med hushållning av de resurser som funnits tillgängliga.

Studien baseras på statistik från fyra väderstationer i Västsverige. Detta material har sedan vägts mot befolkningsutvecklingen och emigrationen i fyra västsvenska län. För att kunna producera mat behövs olika typer av livsmedel så som spannmål och kött. Vissa spannmål kan vara lättare att odla i olika geografiska regioner och vara mer eller mindre känsliga för temperaturskillnader.
Vad jag kom fram till
Genom den agrara revolutionen och den industrialiseringsprocess som skedde i Sverige kunde jordbrukarna producera mera mat. Skördarna av potatis och havre kom att öka under perioden gentemot en del andra spannmål. Det skedde också förändringar gällande djurhushållningen på gårdarna där mjölkkor var av stort värde för befolkningen. För att kunna möjliggöra att det fanns mer djur på gårdarna och maximera skördarna uppodlades mer mark än tidigare

Många människor kom att emigrera utomlands under perioden, det är däremot svårt att säga att människor flyttade på grund av att det var lägre temperatur under vissa år. Människorna flyttade ändå oberoende av den rådande temperaturen. Det nya mer individualiserade jordbruket utan de gamla tegarna och med nya redskap kunde genom stordriftsfördelar ge möjlighet att producera mer mat till den växande befolkningen. Att kunna öka produktionen av livsmedel var viktigt då Sverige under perioden hade börjat att urbaniseras allt mer.

Handledare: Niklas Vareman
Mastersarbetearbete 30 hp i. Tillämpad klimatstrategi 2015
Biologiskainstitutionen, Lunds universitet (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Häggander, Wilhelm LU
supervisor
organization
course
MVEM30 20151
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
grain growing, farmers, potato, West Sweden, animal housekeeping, Climate adaptation
language
Swedish
id
7865955
date added to LUP
2015-09-28 14:18:45
date last changed
2015-09-28 14:18:45
@misc{7865955,
  abstract     = {{In Sweden there are many people who take the food on our tables for granted, there is rarely anyone who reflects on the fact that it was hard work behind. The situation has not always been like that. During the late 1800s there were still many people living in rural areas and their livelihood was farming. Their jobs and mundane chore was to produce, if not the whole, but parts of the food that would later be consumed in the household. The studied period in this paper was colder than today, and people therefore had to adapt to this. The study's purpose is therefore to examine how society could adapt to the current climate. The study is therefore based on material from Statistics Sweden but also historical meteorological data from SMHI.
This study shows how the western Swedish farmers changed their way of farming. This was done by the previous land consolidation reforms made possible a more large-scale agriculture and individual responsibility had to be higher. A colder climates generally generated smaller harvests, but when agricultural society had undergone major change through land parcelling and new technological innovations had entered the market as farmers were able to maintain production even in years with low average temperatures. The study also shows how farmers came to have more animals on farms, to produce both meat and dairy products. Farmers also came to increase potato cultivation which gave large harvests and gave a more differentiated work and facilitated the work of sowing and harvesting. The study also shows that growing oats was an important crop to grow as it not only could be consumed by the farmer himself but it was also important as animal feed.
However, it can be difficult to draw general conclusions over larger areas where the geographical area is important for people. Since Sweden is long and narrow, there are natural differences between north and south.}},
  author       = {{Häggander, Wilhelm}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Klimatanpassning i en historisk kontext- En studie om den västsvenska landsbygdens klimatanpassning och utveckling under 1800-talet.}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}