In Search of the Ghost of Tom Joad – A study of the “local food” movement and its relation to the legal frameworks of the current food system

Sammanfattning: The industrial food production system have given rise to tens of thousands of local, national and international social movements concerned with food and agriculture, reacting to the perceived social and environmental failures of the industrial food system. One of the directions inside these movements is the internationally based “local food” movement. The ”local food” movement promotes small-scale agricultural practices and a closer connection between farmer and eater, such as in the form of farmers´ markets and Community Supported Agriculture. In this thesis, it is argued that small-scale production is disfavoured as compared to large industrial production in Swedish food safety law and agricultural law and policy. Sweden has historically had an agricultural policy directed at creating larger farm units. Through the implementation of the support system to farmers of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the EU, large scale production units are still promoted, even though it is not a stated policy of the EU to prioritise large farming units before small-scale farming units. Money transfers from the taxpayers of the EU memberstates to owners or cultivators of large land holdings, representing 0,1% of the EU population, stands for almost 17 % of the total budget of the EU for 2013. Small-scale producers are either excluded from or not prioritised in the European and Swedish supports system consisting of direct payments to farmers. Also the market support measures of the CAP generally favours large producers. The reasons for this seem to be a combination of old policies and enduring economical interests. In the case of food safety law, small-scale producers might have a hard time coping with the vast amount of regulations, initially created as a response to the social and geographical distance created between producer and consumer as a consequense of industrialisation and urbanisation and adapted to the conditions of industrial food production. The regulations were created because of public health concerns, but also as a result of different economical interests pushing for the regulations, but this does not alter the fact that they may protect consumer health. However, an alternative approach would be for excemptions from the rules to be granted if small-scale producers can ensure consumer safety in other ways.