Farmers' conditions: income, prices and costs
Short answer: About 158,000 people worked in farming in 2023, but the work amounted to only 53,000 full-time years, and four in ten sole-trader farmers were 65 or older. Organic farmland grew to almost a fifth of the area around 2020 and has since shrunk to 14 percent. Income per farm swings sharply between years and farm types: in 2022 dairy and pig farms earned more than in any other year since 2014, and the following year income fell back. The price farmers get for milk, meat and grain does not simply follow the shop price, and fertiliser cost more than three times as much in 2022 as in 2020.
More on the site: Agriculture and food preparedness on self-sufficiency, farmland, support and emergency stocks, Prices on food prices and retail margins, The countryside on the population outside the cities, Large carnivores on attacks on sheep and compensation, and EU on agricultural policy and what Sweden pays.
How many people work in farming.
The Swedish Board of Agriculture counts everyone working on farm businesses: the farmers, their families and employees. Most work only part of the year or alongside another job, so the number of annual work units is only about a third of the number of people. The share is the people in farming divided by all employed aged 15 to 74 in the Labour Force Survey.
Swedish Board of Agriculture, employment in agriculture (JO1101Q01), and Statistics Sweden, Labour Force Survey (LFS). The Board's survey is carried out every third or fourth year.
Farmers are getting older.
The table shows sole-trader farmers, the most common form for a farm, by age. Fewer young people take over, and many keep running the farm long after 65. The support for young farmers in the EU's agricultural policy is meant to make taking over easier, and it is described on Agriculture and food preparedness.
| Age | 2003 | Share | 2023 | Share |
|---|
Swedish Board of Agriculture, employment in agriculture (JO1101Q11). Sole-trader farmers, persons.
Organic farmland grew and is now shrinking.
The share of arable land farmed organically or in conversion, according to the Swedish Board of Agriculture.
The market did not keep pace with production
A report commissioned by the Swedish Board of Agriculture in 2020 found that demand for organic products had not grown as much as production. Prices were squeezed, some organic produce was sold as conventional, and more farmers returned to conventional farming.
Agrovektor for the Swedish Board of Agriculture, 2020
Lower yields and more weeds
Those who have left organic farming have told the Swedish Board of Agriculture that more weeds and pests, lower yields and weak profitability were the reasons.
Swedish Board of Agriculture, cited in parliamentary motions on organic production
Sales are falling
Sales of organic food have fallen since the early 2020s, most for dairy products and eggs.
Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, survey of organic campaigns in shops, 2026
Swedish Board of Agriculture, organically farmed agricultural land (JO0104C06). The series starts in 2009.
What a farm earns, by farm type.
The Farm Economic Survey follows a sample of medium-sized and large farm businesses; the smallest farms are not included. Income is the farm business income per unpaid annual work unit, that is what is left for the farmer and family for their work and the capital they have put into the farm. It has to cover pension, holidays and sick leave, so it is not directly comparable with a wage. The median wage for all employees in Sweden is shown for comparison.
A record year and a weak year
In 2022 prices for milk, meat and grain rose sharply, and the state paid crisis support to farming. Incomes were the highest in the series for most farm types. In 2023 grain prices fell while costs stayed high, and income dropped again.
Swedish Board of Agriculture, Farm Economic Survey
Beef farms live mostly on support
Support makes up a quarter to a third of the production value on beef farms, against less than a tenth on pig farms. In the drought year 2018 income on beef farms was negative despite the support.
Swedish Board of Agriculture, Farm Economic Survey
Swedish Board of Agriculture, Farm Economic Survey (JO0202B01), thousand kronor, current prices. Indebtedness is debts divided by assets, support share is support divided by production value. Median wage: Statistics Sweden, wage structure statistics, monthly wage times twelve.
From the farm to the shop.
The chart shows price trends at three stages for the same product: what the farmer gets, what the food industry charges and what the consumer pays in the shop, all as an index with 2020 as 100. It shows how prices move, not how large the farmer's share of the shop price is; that figure is not reported per product in official statistics. For bread, the grain price is compared with bread in industry and shops. The industry price for milk is dairy products and is missing from 2024, and for eggs there is no industry stage. The shop price includes VAT, 12 percent until 1 April 2026 and 6 percent since then.
The settlement price is what the dairies pay the farmer for milk, in kronor per kilo, before deductions and supplements for the individual farm.
The farmer's price is set in a different market
Milk, meat and grain are traded on a European and global market, and dairies and slaughterhouses set their price to farmers by what they themselves can sell for there. The shop price also depends on wages, transport, packaging, rents and the retail margin. That is why the farmer's price can fall while the shop price stays put.
Swedish Board of Agriculture, status report on the food chain, 28 May 2025
Up but not down
When the milk price to farmers rose in 2007 and 2008 the shop price followed it up, but when it fell in 2009 the shop price barely dropped. The Swedish Competition Authority found that price changes are passed on between most stages of the chain, but not between the farmer's price and the shop price for milk.
Swedish Board of Agriculture, memo 17 November 2009; Swedish Competition Authority, Price transmission, background report 2011:3
Who profits from food
The Swedish Board of Agriculture has calculated the operating margin at each stage of the chain. Primary production has increased its margin to just over 25 percent in 2024, partly thanks to the crisis support in 2022. The food industry and retail are at around 4 percent with no clear trend. The primary production margin has to cover the farmer's own work and capital, which is not a wage in the accounts. The Competition Authority's review of retail margins is described on Prices.
Swedish Board of Agriculture, report 2026:7
A high price compared with the neighbours
Swedish farmers get some of the highest prices in the EU for pigs and milk.
Swedish Board of Agriculture, status report on the food chain, 28 May 2025
Swedish Board of Agriculture, price index for agricultural products (A-index), producer price index for food (PPI-J) and consumer price index for food (KPI-J) per month, 2020 = 100, and settlement prices for milk (JO1001L2).
Fertiliser, diesel and feed in 2022 and 2023.
The input price index shows what farmers pay for what is used in production, and the A-index what farmers get for what they sell, both with 2020 as 100. After Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 the price rose for natural gas, which is needed to make nitrogen fertiliser, and for diesel and electricity.
Farm business income for the whole sector in million kronor, from the economic accounts for agriculture. It includes support, also the crisis support in 2022.
Swedish Board of Agriculture, input price index and A-index per year (JO1001APMA20, JO1001AA20), 2020 = 100, and the economic accounts for agriculture (EAA, JO0205H2), million kronor in current prices.
What the parties want to do for farmers' finances.
The table summarises proposals on farm profitability in parliament during the term of office. The parties' lines on preparedness and production are described on Agriculture and food preparedness.
| Party | Suggestions | Source |
|---|---|---|
| The government (M, KD, L) and SD | Reduced tax on diesel in farming, extended several times. Food VAT halved from 1 April 2026. | Govt. bill 2023/24:24, govt. bill 2021/22:253, budget bill for 2026 |
| Social Democrats | Wants to limit the large retail chains' power over suppliers and review how the ban on unfair trading practices is applied. Considers that the food strategy lacks targets for profitability. | Motion 2025/26:3733 |
| Centre Party | The farmer gets 10 öre of every food krona, the state 11 öre in VAT. A quick inquiry into farming's taxes and fees, aiming for the farmer to get 20 öre. | Motion 2025/26:983 |
| Left Party | 200 million kronor more for organic production and full cost coverage in the payment for pastures, 218 million more. | Motion 2025/26:3176 |
| Green Party | Remove the tax reduction for diesel in farming and replace it with a farmer deduction and a bio premium of 100 million kronor. | Motion 2025/26:3549 |
Riksdag open data, government bills and motions in the parliamentary session 2025/26 and earlier. The Swedish National Financial Management Authority advised against cutting food VAT; the assessments are described on Prices.
Where the figures come from.
- Employment, age, organic area, income per farm type, price indices, settlement price and business income: the Swedish Board of Agriculture's statistical database. Official statistics.
- All employed and the median wage: Statistics Sweden, Labour Force Survey and wage structure statistics, CC BY 4.0.
- Price formation: Swedish Board of Agriculture, memo 17 November 2009, status report 28 May 2025 and report 2026:7; Swedish Competition Authority, background report 2011:3.
- Organic: Agrovektor for the Swedish Board of Agriculture 2020 and Swedish Society for Nature Conservation 2026.
- The parties: Riksdag open data, government bills and motions.
The series were retrieved in October 2026.