With a focus on agricultural policy for both food and biodiversity

When political scientist Johanna Tangnäs joined the SLU Swedish Biodiversity Centre at the Department of Urban and Rural Development, she had already had her eye on the organisation for some time.

“You don’t often find such a strong link between research and its practical value for different actors in society – and ultimately for the environment,” she says.

Since the summer, she has been part of the large research programme Landpaths, funded by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (see fact box below). The project aims to develop strategies that support multifunctional landscapes – that is, landscapes that serve multiple purposes at once. These landscapes should be rich in biodiversity, while also being available for different forms of use.

Everything from urban areas to mountain landscapes is covered within the programme’s various sub-projects.

Governance of the agricultural landscape

Johanna Tangnäs’s focus is on the agricultural landscape.

This landscape is crucial to the survival of one-third of all red-listed species in Sweden. Its biodiversity is facing multiple threats, while at the same time, Sweden’s food self-sufficiency has declined sharply in recent decades.

“If we want to be able to produce food in Sweden, we need biodiversity. And how farming is done has a major impact on preserving that biodiversity,” she says.

The project therefore looks at what kind of governance can support both food production and biodiversity.

“Biodiversity is often seen as an environmental issue, but political decisions are what open or close the doors to possible development paths. That’s why it’s important to also examine governance.”

The EU’s common agricultural policy

The starting point for her research is the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and how it is implemented in Sweden.

Johanna Tangnäs investigates the actual effects of the subsidy systems, rather than their intentions.

“There are many fine statements about environmental benefits and the importance of supporting small-scale farming and traditional pastures. But in practice, the big money still largely goes to large-scale farms with high output and few crops or animals – which can be problematic for food security, resilience, and biodiversity.”

Interviewing farmers

To understand how farmers experience the support systems, she conducts interviews on farms in Uppland and Härjedalen. These conversations offer her insights into a wealth of local and individual knowledge, she explains.

She also encounters a strong sense of responsibility for the environment, food quality, animal welfare, and the surrounding community.

“The CAP system is fairly rigid, large, and technical. Other actors, such as county administrative boards or rural development organisations, can apply for funds to teach things to farmers – but the farmers themselves cannot receive support to implement fairly simple ideas.”
Her research continues with more interviews and workshops, where she gathers farmers’ own ideas. The goal is to produce both scientific articles and policy recommendations for government agencies.

Rethinking sustainability

Johanna Tangnäs has previously studied political governance. In her doctoral thesis, “Development, Competition and Possible Futures: A Study of the Making of Sustainability in Regional Development Policy,” she analysed the effects of the Swedish government’s directive for regions to promote sustainable development.

“It turned out that sustainability often became a formality – with knowledge efforts, documents, and strategies – rather than regions acknowledging real goal conflicts and stopping unsustainable practices,” she says.
Still, she observed that policy shifts away from purely growth-focused objectives opened up new space for sustainability efforts.

“Sustainability is now seen as more important in the regions, and there has been a shift away from a narrow business focus toward more long-term efforts to manage major societal challenges.”