Swedish farmers - are they entrepreneurs? : and is there a support function for LRF to fulfil?

Sammanfattning: The EU market is being deregulated, which sees Swedish farmers that have traditionally been governed by different support systems being forced to adapt to a free market system and having to deal with the concept of supply and demand. The farming sector has during the past several years experienced harder conditions and the deregulation of the market has directly affected farmers. The need for entrepreneurs and that way of thinking has been identified (McElwee, 2006). Swedish farmers are neither familiar with a free market or being required to think in an entrepreneurial manner, does this therefore implicate that Swedish farmers are not entrepreneurs?LRF is a national farmers’ organization in Sweden and functions as a support for Swedish farmers. LRF works in several diverse areas such as agricultural policies, tourism, animal welfare, food and cuisine, international co-operation, ownership rights, research, business development, school contact and work safety, to influence the conditions of their members (LRF, 2010f). Every year LRF performs an evaluation to find out what their members think of their work. In the evaluation (NMR), LRF members indicated that improvements could be achieved in the following areas: Information, Politics and Society, Support and Advice and Public opinion. Today LRF works with so-called "business coaches", although that project will terminate in 2010. LRF currently want to know what their members think LRF as a support function, should focus on in the future.The aim in this thesis is to investigate entrepreneurship in Swedish farmers and highlight how they believe LRF as a support organisation should work. A case study based on eight interviews was performed and then subsequently analysed based on a literature review. Both discussions and possible conclusions are presented.The key results of the study are that Swedish farmers have developed entrepreneurial skills, but this has occurred in varying degrees; some are more successful than others are. The most successful are those who are entirely self-reliant and believe themselves capable to manage the things happening around them. The farmers want LRF to offer a broad variety of support, primarily lobbying, profit for Swedish farmers, conventional farming and regional support.