Willow growers in Sweden

The number of willow plantations on Swedish farmland increased considerably between 1991 and 1996. The main driving forces behind this development wer e: (1) The introduction in 1991 of a new agricultural policy in Sweden whic h, through deregulation, created lower grain prices and simultaneously intr oduced compensation for set-aside land as well as subsidies for willow plan tations on surplus arable land; (2) higher taxes on fossil fuels; and (3) t he existence of a biofuel market in Sweden based on forest fuels. This pape r presents a statistical study of willow growers in southern and central-ea stern Sweden. Data about willow growers and a stratified random sample of n on willow growers were acquired from the 1995 Farm Register compiled by Sta tistics Sweden. Willow growers are described according to geographical dist ribution, willow parcel sizes, farm sizes, and farm types. Comparisons are also made with the population of farmers who are not growing willow. A high concentration of willow growers is recorded for central Sweden around Lake Malaren. Willow growers are more often in the age span 50-65 years, and as compared to non-willow growers, have larger farms. They are less often foc used on animal and milk production, and more often on cereal and food crop production, when compared with other farmers. Implications of the Swedish e xperience for policy making in the fields of energy and agriculture are dis cussed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.