mid-18th century land reforms were initiated (storskiftet) which meant that scattered land plots around villages were progressively redistributed into coherent holdings, which gave the possibility for more rational farming. Swedish scientists also gave attention to the improvement of agriculture, with botanist Carl Linnaeus and agricultural chemist Johan Gottschalk Wallerius as the foremost representatives. However, the mercantilist views of the era guided most governmental activities. In the wake of the Finnish War of 1808-1809, agricultural improvements received significant interest from the Swedish government and private actors. An important role was played by the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture, which was founded in 1811, as well as by the Rural Economy and Agricultural Societies, which were founded in most Swedish counties around this time. The production of distilled beverages, brännvin, was regulated and the land reforms were continued. New areas, especially wetlands, were used for cultivation, and cultivation methods were improved. This was especially true for the production of fodder, which benefited from the cultivation of nitrogen-fixating plants such as clover and alfalfa. Many meadows were converted to farmed land with fodder crops, which significantly improved the amount of fodder available. Improved crop cultivation received most attention in the first half of the 19th century, while improvement of animal husbandry progressively came more in focus later in the century. Selected foreign breeds were purchased and made available in breeding stations. (1702-1864) All farms in Sweden were taxed based on their production capacity, so manorialism hit Sweden like a wave. Manorialism is a social and economic system that allows the wealthy to control the poor whilst providing for the needs of the poor. “About one-third of the land, in terms of mantal, was owned by the nobility in the early eighteenth century”(Olsson, Svenson, Agricultural Growth and Institution: Sweden). Due to two different enclosure movements, manorialism fell just as quickly as it came. In the 19th grain quickly became Sweden’s number one export (instead of being an import). Growth of dairy sector and industrialization (1860–1960) From the late 1860s, dairy production, and in particular production of butter, became more and more central to the Swedish agricultural economy. A progressively larger portion of the farmland was devoted to fodder production, and the farmed area increased until the 1920s. Milk- and dairy-related income was the most important source income for Swedish agricultural business around the turn of the century. This meant that the earlier Swedish cereal