The promises of urbanization have called countless Swedes to abandoned their countrysides. Only a few tenacious dairy farmers have resisted and stayed behind with their struggling farms in an increasingly desperate economic climate. Mats-Åke is one of these men. He runs a family farm with the help of his wife Ampawan and her relatives who travel from Thailand to undertake seasonal work in the area. That’s the way it works for more and more farms in northern Sweden. Through “cooperative” marriages the agriculture business can continue, cultures come together, and the Swedish people can continue drinking their beloved milk.
The new inhabitants aren’t just bringing their religion, traditions, and cuisine with them from the East. They also have other ideas about love, family bonds and sexual identity. It appears that those traditionally red-painted farmhouses, the shimmering fields of grain, and docile dairy cows aren’t as “typically Sweden” as we might have thought at first.