OECD Food and Agricultural Reviews Innovation, Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability in Sweden

Agricultural innovation in Sweden has sought to improve the competitiveness and sustainability of the agri-food sector by ensuring a high level of environmental and animal welfare standards, while raising the productivity and financial viability of farms. The policies enacted to date have contributed to a high level of consumer confidence in the quality and methods of food production, but challenges remain. These include adapting new technologies that will further strengthen the high environmental, animal welfare and food standards within a more balanced regional and open trading system. In view of the high production costs in Sweden, there is a need to continue with structural adjustments and better targeted investments in the agri-food sector, as well as to improve the level of interactions between research institutions and farmers to ensure that innovative techniques are adopted by all participants. Read more...

Hailed as a means to transform cultural norms and change lives, violence prevention programs signal a slow-rolling policy revolution that has reached nearly two-thirds of young people in the United States today. Max A. Greenberg takes us inside the booming market forprogramming and onto the asphalt campuses of Los Angeles where these programs areimplemented, many just one hour a week for 12 weeks. He spotlights how these ephemeral programs, built on troves of risk data, are disconnected from the lived experiences of the young people they were created to support. Going beyond the narrow stories told about at-risk youth through data and in policy, Greenberg sketches a vivid portrait of young men and women coming of age and forming relationships in a world of abidingharm and fleeting, fragmented support.At the same time, Greenberg maps the minefield of historical and structural inequalities that program facilitators must navigate to build meaningful connections with the youth they serve. Taken together, these programs shape the stories and politics of a generation and reveal how social policy can go wrong when it ignores the lives of young people.

Acronyms -- The economic and institutional environment for entrepreneurship and investment in Sweden -- Foreword -- Context and challenges facing the Swedish food and agriculture sector -- The Swedish agricultural innovation system -- Overall assessment and recommendations -- Agricultural policy in Sweden -- Executive summary -- Capacity building and public services in Sweden.