exports mostly vanished, and were replaced by imports of cereals for bread making. On the other hand, significant exports of butter started to take place, and later also of pork and live pigs. In the first years of the 20th century, Sweden exported 16,000-20,000 tons of butter per year. In the late 1940s, milking machines replaced hand milking and tractors started to replace the use of horses. Alfa Laval became a well-known manufacturer and brand of milking machines. In the 1950s, a large-scale mechanisation took place, using cheap supplies of petrol fuels. The Swedish agricultural workforce was reduced by 60 percent from 1945 to 1970, and labour was freed up for employment in the industrial sector. Deregulation and re-regulation (1989–2000) In 1989, Sweden deregulated its agricultural policy and finally scrapped many subsidies and price controls which originally had been introduced in the 1930s, when the agricultural sector experienced an economic crisis. In 1995, when Sweden joined the European Union, the Swedish agricultural sector again became subject to various regulations, via the Common Agricultural Policy. References