In the far north of Sweden, there exists a small agricultural community of farmers. Currently, these farmers are on the outskirts of the global agricultural industry, but soon, they will probably be placed at the forefront of worldwide food and lumber production. This prediction emanates from the fact that climate change is currently about to transform the subarctic landscape, which may revolutionize the preconditions for the agriculture industry in northern Sweden. Already by the turn of the next century, research indicates that the subarctic regions of the world could have become new agricultural frontiers with a considerably renewed capacity for agricultural production.

If these environmental changes occur, it will undoubtedly entail several educational challenges for the farmers of northern Sweden, as they inevitably must begin to redevelop their local knowledge and understanding of their different farmlands. However, there is a significant lack of educational research that has explored how farmers learn and redevelop their local knowledge and understanding of their different farmlands in their everyday lives, especially in the geographical context of northern Sweden. Fundamentally, this doctoral thesis seeks to explore and address this research gap.

The objective of the research endeavour is to explore, describe, and understand how farmers in northern Sweden learn and redevelop their local land knowledge in their everyday lives. In doing so, the doctoral thesis seeks to facilitate and support the continuous redevelopment of a sustainable and climate change resilient agricultural industry within the subarctic region of Norrbotten in northern Sweden. The following research questions have informed and guided the practical implementation of the research endeavour: What learning practices and experiences do farmers emphasize and describe as educationally significant within their learning process by which they learn and redevelop their local land knowledge? What characterizes the learning process by which farmers learn and redevelop their local land knowledge? How may farmers’ lifelong environmental learning be facilitated and supported in times of climate change?

To fulfil this research objective, the doctoral thesis methodologically employs a qualitative narrative inquiry based on 30 interviews with 14 different farmers. Theoretically, the doctoral thesis also draws upon John Dewey’s theoretical framework of experiential learning.

The empirical results show that the farmers’ lifelong environmental learning process is grounded in the three interrelated learning practices of sensing, storying, and shaping the land. Conceptually, the learning practice of sensing the land is argued to mirror Dewey's concept of aesthetic experience. The learning practice of storying the land is reasoned to resemble Dewey's reflective experience of analytical thinking. And the learning practice of shaping the land is proposed to echo Dewey's reflective experience of trial and error. Together, these results then suggest that the farmers’ lifelong environmental learning process is characterized by an integration of body and mind, as well as a deep embeddedness within different geographical contexts and local agricultural communities. In the context of climate change, supporting farmers’ lifelong environmental learning is therefore argued to require strengthening their sensory engagement with their local natural environments, fostering their ability to exchange and reflect upon various kinds of environmental and agricultural experiences within their local agricultural communities, and enhancing their capacity for diverse forms of on-farm experimentation.