In 2025, the Swedish farmers' organizations LRF and Gröna Arbetsgivare celebrated the 10th anniversary of their initiative Jobba Grönt, but the project continues in order to attract more people to work in the green industries by highlighting the opportunities for meaningful jobs with sustainability in focus. Since the start, young people's attitudes have changed in a positive direction.

Swedish Jobba Grönt is an initiative that was launched to reverse the downward trend in young people's interest in agriculture, forestry, and horticulture. Young people were not actively choosing against professions in the green industries; they simply were not aware that they existed.

Based on what emerged from our attitude survey among young people, we chose different approaches for how we would work and direct our information. We decided to have a presence where young people are and find ways to communicate possible education paths and professions, says Anna Ross, project manager at Jobba Grönt.

School was the first obvious place to be present, and Jobba Grönt has collaborated with Arbetsmarknadskunskap, an organization described as the employer's voice in classrooms and which provides information to lower secondary school students about upper secondary education.

Among other things, they have an app where young people can take tests to explore their inner motivations, and the result shows a match with different professions. "From our industry, we have added 80 professions that can be matched", says Anna, explaining that study and career counsellors have also received information to pass on.

Great Interest on TikTok
Another important approach was to reach young people through social media and entertainment channels. TikTok has been the main forum in recent years.

On our own channel, we create short, fun and relatable videos that mainly focus on life at agricultural and horticultural upper secondary schools. We receive a fantastic response from young people there.
Anna explains that they were also selected as one of five finalists for the Influencer Marketing of the Year award at the prestigious Mixx Awards, with a campaign in which songwriter Adam Woods wrote a humorous country song for influencer Frida Jernspels.

That song, and the video recorded with agricultural and horticultural students, has gained wide exposure on TikTok, says Anna.

More Positive Attitudes Today
Interest in Jobba Grönt's digital content has been very strong, and in 2024, the project's content reached nearly 19 million views on social media, mainly on TikTok, where there is a high level of engagement. Anna Ross believes that authenticity has been an important factor to highlight—that it is an incredible opportunity to study within the green industries.

Nothing needs to be embellished or enhanced with AI—it really is as exciting as it appears.
Since its launch in 2015, Jobba Grönt has helped make the industry's opportunities more visible by providing information about jobs, education, and a rural lifestyle. And the work has produced results. Since the project's communication efforts began, the number of first-choice applications to the Natural Resource Use Programme has increased by almost 30 percent.

Attitudes toward jobs and education within the green industries have also changed in a positive direction, with 32 percent of Sweden's young people today able to imagine themselves in at least one profession within the industry.

Suggestions are Welcome
During 2026, horticulture will be the main focus for Jobba Grönt. As the project is led by LRF and Gröna Arbetsgivare, it is primarily the potential and opportunities within horticultural production that will be highlighted, although there will also—just as before—be information available about other areas within the horticultural industry, for example landscaping.

Right now, I am exploring what the horticultural industry needs and what is most current and relevant to highlight. Anyone with ideas is very welcome to contact me to discuss them. One thought I have is that we need to become even better at breaking down the concept of horticulture, to make it more understandable and show that it can involve many different things, says Anna.

Text: Cecilia Karlsson