Alternativa urbana odlingsmetodernas potential för självförsörjning i Sverige

Sammanfattning: During the COVID pandemic of 2019, Sweden saw a huge increase in food prices, as many of the country's grocery chains import a large amount of all foods. This research is motivated by the Swedish Parliament's motion "Self-Sufficiency of Food in Sweden" and the need for innovative solutions to enhance Sweden's food supply. This study focuses on alternative urban agriculture methods, with a focus on aeroponics, aquaponics, hydroponics, and vertical farming, and their potential for self-sufficiency in Sweden. This study aims to fill the gap in Swedish research on soilless urban farming methods and contribute to the understanding and acceptance of the alternative methods above. The study seeks to determine whether the yield of alternative cultivation methods is comparable to traditional methods, soil-based and greenhouse-based farming, in terms of resources invested and to identify the alternative method with the highest yield. Resources in this thesis will be defined as the amount of water that is used. Our thesis aims to support businesses and local governance in decision-making regarding implementation of alternative urban farming in Sweden. A literature search was conducted using keywords such as hydroponic, vertical farming and sustainability. Statistical analysis of collected data indicates significant differences in yield and water usage among the collected examples which resulted in vertical hydroponic farming offering the highest yield in terms of space utilization, with significant statistical significance (p < 0.05). Additionally, hydroponic farming requires the least amount of water compared to other methods although this is not a certainty as there was no significant statistical difference between the different methods. The study demonstrates that hydroponic farming can achieve higher yields compared to traditional soil-based farming and other alternative farming methods. The study emphasizes organizational and governmental solutions to improve self-sufficiency at the local and national levels. Alternative urban farming methods offer a sustainable contribution to increasing self-sufficiency while minimizing resource usage.