National food self-sufficiency following EU accession: Finland and Sweden compared

During the Cold War era, the overarching goal for agricultural policy in both Finland and Sweden was to achieve national food self-sufficiency as a means to be prepared for war. To achieve this, agricultural production was protected by fixed guaranteed prices, import tolls and export subsidies. For Finnish as well as Swedish agriculture, deregulation and exposure to competition on the Single Market following EU accession in 1995 has resulted in an increased share of imported food,with a decreasing national self-sufficiency rate as a consequence. While Finnish politicians have taken measures to secure national production, self-sufficiency and advocating the EU’s agricultural budget to achieve such targets, Swedish right-wing and Social Democrat governments alike have advocated budget cuts and pushing for deregulation in the EU’s agricultural policy process ever since joining the union. In this paper we compare the policy development in Finland and Sweden in respect to food security as a geopolitical issue