Farmer Henrik Carlsson knows exactly what would boost his harvests: better drainage to handle heavy rains and irrigation to survive droughts. With those systems in place, he estimates his yields could rise by 30 to 40 percent. The problem is money.
“With the profitability I have, I can’t afford those investments,” he says.
Carlsson isn’t alone. Swedish farmers face a changing climate that brings both floods and droughts, yet few can afford the measures needed to protect their crops. According to Markus Hoffmann, sustainability expert at the Swedish Farmers’ Association, climate adaptation in agriculture is barely happening at all.
Adaptation moving at a crawl
Hoffmann points to two urgent needs: new cover ditches and functioning drainage systems to stabilize water levels, and irrigation dams to secure crops during dry summers. But the pace is glacial.
“At the current rate, it will take more than 200 years to irrigate just 20 percent of Sweden’s farmland,” he says.
Support exists, but not enough
Government support has been available for a few years to help farmers build irrigation dams and improve drainage, but take-up has been low. For Carlsson, the numbers don’t add up. Installing irrigation on his land would cost around five million kronor, far beyond what subsidies can cover.
The government recently increased the support levels. Rural Affairs Minister Peter Kullgren says the goal is to make it easier for farmers to take the leap. But another barrier remains: nearly half of Sweden’s farmland is leased, which discourages long-term investments when farmers don’t know if they’ll still be working the same land years down the line.
More than a farm problem
The stakes go well beyond individual farmers. In 2018, an extreme drought forced Sweden to import wheat and left the country unable to meet its own grain needs.
Carlsson believes the consequences are clear. “If more of us could invest, self-sufficiency would rise and food prices for consumers could fall,” he says.
Bottom line: climate adaptation in Swedish farming isn’t just a question of technology or knowledge. It’s about economics—and right now, the numbers don’t work.