ABSTRACT
Since the 1950s, the amount of cultivated land on the Scandinavian Peninsula (Sweden and Norway) has decreased; 14 per cent of farmland has been abandoned or developed into other land uses (Li et al. 2013). In addition, pasture area in both Sweden and Norway has decreased due to intensification of cultivation and farmland abandonment (Fjellstad et al. 2008; Statistics Sweden 2013). A change in agricultural land use to other uses is not in line with national regulations aimed at protecting farmland in both Sweden (Swedish Ministry of the Environment and Energy 2001) and Norway (Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food 1995). From a long-term sustainability and global food supply perspective, it is problematic that farmland is being changed to other land uses. Covering agricultural land with asphalt and developing housing and commercial premises is especially challenging, as it is often irreversible. It cannot be proven with certainty that the current agricultural land in Sweden and Norway will be needed for future production of food, materials and energy, but based on existing levels of knowledge, the precautionary principle should be applied. 1 Three aspects are especially important in this regard. First, the physical conditions for production; agricultural land in Scandinavia is of good quality in terms of soil composition and climate conditions, and with climate change, it may become a more important resource for food, energy and material production relative to other areas in the future. Second, the social and environmental impacts of relocating food production to other places in the world, and of continuing to intensify production using pesticides and fertilisers, require caution about the agricultural land already in use. Third, it is important to manage carefully the values other than food production provided by agricultural land use, for example, food security, recycling of nutrients, rural development, biodiversity and cultural heritage (Deininger et al. 2011; Lambin 2012; Meyfroidt et al. 2013).
