Statare

Statare were contract-workers, living under serf-like conditions in Swedish agriculture who, contrary to other farmhands, were expected to be married, were provided with a simple dwelling for their family, and instead of eating at the servants' table were paid in kind with foodstuff. They were, similarly to most other farmworkers, contracted on an annual basis. The family members' willingness to work, at some places unpaid, was taken for granted. This system became increasingly common during the 19th century,^[1] attracted much public critique in the 20th century, and was abolished from November 1, 1945 through a collective bargaining agreement.

These agricultural laborers were generally viewed as being on the lowest rungs of Swedish society, worse off than crofters.^[2] Their lives were described by prominent Swedish novelists and writers such as Ivar Lo-Johansson, Jan Fridegård and Moa Martinson,^[3] making a considerable impact on the public debate in the decades following common suffrage. Their lives are also described by Swedish American novelist Helen Lundström Erwin in her novel Sour Milk in Sheep's Wool, published 2021.

The system was promoted by agrarian reforms resulting in enlarged fields^[5] and by expanding markets for grain, meat and dairy. It occurred almost exclusively on farms greater than 60 hectares (150 acres),^[6] mainly in regions of central and southern Sweden^[7][8] where families from the landed nobility were dominant land owners. On many manors the statare system replaced manorial tenant farming.^[1] It reached its maximum extent in the decades around year 1900. Thereafter the system gradually declined^[9] until it was formally abolished in 1945.^[3]