Agriculture & Farming

If you plan to start a business that transports, handles, treats, converts, processes, stores, places on the market, distributes, uses, or disposes of animal by-products or products derived from them, you must notify the facility to the Swedish Board of Agriculture (Jordbruksverket).Certain types of facilities require approval from the Swedish Board of Agriculture, including processing plants, incineration plants, fuel boilers, pet food manufacturing facilities, organic fertilizer and soil improver facilities, biogas and composting plants, and facilities for handling or storing unprocessed animal by-products. For other facilities, registration is sufficient. The Swedish Board of Agriculture is the supervisory authority for most facilities.

Issued by: Swedish Board of Agriculture

Potato growers, packing facilities, and importers of potatoes must register with the Swedish Board of Agriculture (Jordbruksverket) to ensure traceability and control of potato production in Sweden. This is a key part of plant protection work and the prevention of harmful organisms such as potato cyst nematode and ring rot.Registration is done through the Swedish Board of Agriculture's e-service Potato Register, and a fee is charged. After registration, you must keep records of potato varieties, quantities, suppliers, and buyers. Registered operators are subject to official inspections and must report any suspected pest findings to the Board of Agriculture without delay. Failure to register or report can result in penalties.

Issued by: Swedish Board of Agriculture

Plant nurseries and other companies that professionally produce and sell propagation material and plants must register their operation with the Swedish Board of Agriculture. Companies that professionally produce and sell vegetable and ornamental plant seeds must also in many cases notify their operation to the Swedish Board of Agriculture's register.The registration ensures that the operation complies with the requirements for quality and plant protection. The Swedish Board of Agriculture charges a fee for the permits. This is part of the system for controlling and ensuring the quality of plant material placed on the market.

Issued by: Swedish Board of Agriculture

If you sell feed for food-producing animals in a shop or online store, you must register your feed establishment with the Swedish Board of Agriculture (Jordbruksverket). This applies to retailers selling feed for cattle, pigs, poultry, fish, and other animals raised for food production.Registration via the e-service is free, while paper form registration costs 200 SEK. After registration, you must pay an annual inspection fee starting the year after notification. Jordbruksverket conducts regular inspections to verify that feed sold to food-producing animals meets quality and safety requirements under EU feed legislation.

Issued by: Swedish Board of Agriculture

If you manufacture certain feed products or use certain feed ingredients, you must notify or register as a feed business operator with the Swedish Board of Agriculture (Jordbruksverket). For new registrations, a registration fee of SEK 200 will be invoiced, while new registration via e-service is free of charge.You will have to pay an annual control fee starting the year after you have registered. If your establishment manufactures certain feed products or uses certain feed ingredients, it may also need to be approved for this.

Issued by: Swedish Board of Agriculture

A permit is always required for storage of timber and forest fuel along roads in Sweden. Which authority to contact depends on whether the storage is placed within or outside the road area, and whether it is a public or private road. For public roads, a permit is always required under the Road Act (Väglagen 1971:948).The Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) is the responsible authority for permits along public roads. The permit ensures that the storage does not negatively affect traffic safety or the road's function.

Issued by: Swedish Transport Administration

Approved farriers are part of animal health personnel and may work on anesthetized and sedated horses and perform certain surgical interventions and treatments. To become an approved farrier, special training and approval from the Swedish Board of Agriculture are required.It is also possible to work as a farrier without approval, but then the treatment prohibition applies and not all types of interventions may be performed. Approved farriers must follow rules on record-keeping, certification, confidentiality, and reporting obligations and practice the profession according to science and proven experience.

Issued by: Swedish Board of Agriculture

Facilities that manufacture, store, package or distribute organic fertilizers, soil amendments or soil products containing animal components or manure must be approved by the Swedish Board of Agriculture. This is necessary to ensure that products do not risk entering the feed chain or spreading disease.The approval normally costs 9,000 SEK and must be obtained before the facility is put into operation. Those responsible for an approved facility must also pay an annual control fee. The rules also include requirements for processing and traceability to protect animal and public health.

Issued by: Swedish Board of Agriculture

Anyone who keeps animals on land or handles breeding material must register the facility where the animals or breeding materials are kept with the Swedish Board of Agriculture (Jordbruksverket). Registration is mandatory and aims to ensure traceability, animal health and disease control.The Swedish Board of Agriculture charges an annual fee per facility. Registration covers all types of terrestrial animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, poultry and horses, as well as facilities handling breeding material such as semen, eggs and embryos.

Issued by: Swedish Board of Agriculture

If you have bees and will move them between countries, you must register your facility with the Swedish Board of Agriculture (Jordbruksverket). Registration is necessary for traceability and for the veterinarian to issue the health certificate required for international trade in bees. You only register facilities involved in cross-border movements.Once registered, the facility receives a unique registration number and is registered in the EU traceability system TracesNT. Notification of apiary locations must always be made to the County Administrative Board. Moving honeybees and bumblebees to other countries requires a health certificate from an official veterinarian.

Issued by: Swedish Board of Agriculture

Food business operators may, under certain conditions, slaughter enclosed ostriches, reindeer, enclosed deer, and wild boar at the place of origin rather than transporting them to a slaughterhouse. A permit for on-site slaughter is granted by the Swedish Food Agency (Livsmedelsverket) following an application.There must be a written agreement between the animal owner and an approved slaughterhouse, and Livsmedelsverket must be informed in advance. The animals must be stunned and bled on the farm, then transported to the slaughterhouse for further processing. Livsmedelsverket typically decides within one week of receiving a complete application.

Issued by: National Food Agency

Egg packing centers that classify eggs by quality and weight must have a license from the Swedish Food Agency (Livsmedelsverket). Classification means sorting and labeling eggs according to EU rules for egg quality and size categories before they may be sold to consumers or retailers.When a license is granted, Livsmedelsverket assigns the packing center an approval number (godkännandenummer) that must be used when labeling eggs. The approval number identifies the origin of the classified eggs and ensures traceability throughout the supply chain. Livsmedelsverket conducts inspections to verify that classification and labeling comply with regulations.

Issued by: National Food Agency

To prevent and stop the spread of regulated plant pests, professional plant operators must ensure that plants and plant products received and sold within Sweden and the rest of the EU are free from attacks by such plant pests. Freedom from regulated plant pests is certified through plant passports (växtpass).Professional plant operators must also ensure that plant shipments can be traced both backwards and forwards in the trade chain. The Swedish Board of Agriculture charges fees for permits to issue plant passports as well as annual fees for control and registration. In addition to plants for planting, certain fruits (including citrus fruit and hybrids) and wood products also require plant passports for sale.

Issued by: Swedish Board of Agriculture

You always need to apply for a permit from the County Administrative Board (Länsstyrelsen) if you operate a riding school or have another horse activity from which you earn money professionally. However, if you have an activity where you breed, rent out, sell or care for horses privately, it is the number of horses in your operation that determines whether you need to apply for a permit or not.The County Administrative Board is the licensing authority and exercises supervision over horse activities to ensure animal protection and animal welfare. A permit is required to operate professional horse activities such as riding schools and commercial rental operations.

Issued by: County Administrative Board

If you professionally or on a larger scale care for your own or others' animals, receive others' animals for compensation, or receive animals for the purpose of rehoming or boarding them, you may need a permit from the County Administrative Board. The same applies if you breed animals, lend animals for compensation, or sell animals.A permit from the County Administrative Board is required under the Animal Welfare Act (2018:1192) for activities involving companion animals, horses, and fur animals. Examples of activities requiring a permit include riding schools, dog daycare, cat and dog boarding facilities, and breeding. For larger operations with farm animals, horses, and mink, a permit is also required under the Environmental Code. Visitor activities with more than three visits per year where visitors have direct contact with animals must be notified to the County Administrative Board.

Issued by: County Administrative Board

When you are going to build or renovate an animal housing facility, it may need to be approved before work begins. This is called advance approval (förprövning). The advance approval ensures that building plans meet the requirements for how animals may be kept.You may need to apply for advance approval if you are going to build, renovate, or extend a stable or other animal housing facility, use a space for animal keeping that was previously used for something else, or set up an enclosure. The County Administrative Board (Länsstyrelsen) reviews your planned construction based on the Animal Welfare Act (djurskyddslagen), Animal Welfare Ordinance (djurskyddsförordningen), and the Swedish Board of Agriculture's regulations on animal keeping.

Issued by: County Administrative Board

If you suspect that your bee colonies have been affected by American foulbrood (amerikansk yngelröta) or tracheal mites (trakékvalster), you must immediately report this to the supervisor in your district or to the County Administrative Board (Länsstyrelsen). The supervisor will then come and examine the infected bee colonies.If you have bees in an area that has not yet been declared infected with Varroa mites (varroakvalster) (mainly northern Sweden), you must also report findings of Varroa mites to the supervisor or Länsstyrelsen. This is an important part of preventing the spread of contagious bee diseases.

Issued by: County Administrative Board

If you produce food through primary production, you must register your facility with the County Administrative Board (Länsstyrelsen). Primary production includes growing and harvesting vegetables, raising livestock for food, milk and egg production, beekeeping, fishing, hunting, and aquaculture.Sprout cultivation carries specific health risks due to the warm, moist growing conditions that can promote bacterial growth. Because of this, sprout producers need approval from Länsstyrelsen before starting operations, rather than just a registration. The approval process includes assessment of your production facilities, hygiene routines, and testing procedures for pathogens such as salmonella and E. coli.

Issued by: County Administrative Board

Feed business operators in primary production must register their establishment with the County Administrative Board (Länsstyrelsen). If you produce, process, store, transport, or distribute feed, you are a feed business operator. This also applies if you produce or store feed for feeding animals on your own farm (primary production).If you only raise animals for your own use, your establishment does not need to be registered. Primary production means products from the land and nature, such as cultivation and harvest of vegetables, production of meat, milk, and eggs, as well as hunting, fishing, beekeeping, and collection of berries and mushrooms. Certain feed establishments require approval from the Swedish Board of Agriculture (Jordbruksverket) before you start the business.

Issued by: County Administrative Board

You must register your bee colonies with the County Administrative Board (Länsstyrelsen) as soon as you acquire bees or take over an existing apiary. Registration is done via a web form on Länsstyrelsen's website and includes the location of all colony sites.If you move your colonies to a new location, you must notify Länsstyrelsen within one week. This registration is essential for disease control and traceability in beekeeping. If an outbreak of notifiable bee diseases such as American foulbrood occurs, the authorities need to know which apiaries are in the affected area to implement quarantine measures effectively.

Issued by: County Administrative Board

To use plant protection products class 1 and 2 in Sweden, an authorization is required. This applies to outdoor use, seed treatment, or in and around greenhouses. Persons over 18 who have completed approved basic training (4 days) can apply for authorization from the County Administrative Board or the Swedish Board of Agriculture.The authorization is valid for five years and renewed through continuing education (1 day). Individuals with qualifications from EU/EEA or Switzerland can apply for recognition from the Swedish Board of Agriculture.

Issued by: County Administrative Board or Swedish Board of Agriculture