Dairy Farming In Denmark 768x

DAIRY FARMING IN DENMARK

Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for eventual sale of a dairy product. Denmark has some privately owned dairies, but 97% of the milk is now supplied to co-operative dairy companies. The Danish cows produce far more milk than consumed in the domestic market, so more than 2/3 of the total Danish milk pool go into export products. This share places Denmark among the world’s top five dairy exporting nations.

HISTORY OF DAILRY FARMING IN DENMARK Archaeological excavations and finds from the stone age show that more than 4,000 years B.C. the first Danes began to burn down forests in order to cultivate land and to keep livestock. The first cattle was probably wild oxen, which were caught and kept in a close. The Vikings kept cows, and medieval frescos show women churning butter. From early on, dairy products formed part of the farmer’s tithes to his king, church and lord of the manor. During the 16th and 17th centuries the Danes became increasingly skilled in dairy production, eg King Christian IV’s letters show that the court farms were well informed about dairy layouts and equipment.

Developments gained further momentum in the 18th century, particularly in the manors. Here production was stepped up in order to meet the growing demand from the towns where the population as well as the standard of living were rising. Following the introduction of the agrarian reforms at the end of the century ordinary farmers ed in. Especially butter was produced for resale and in the mid-19th century growing volumes found their way to foreign markets. In 1882 a group of Jutland farmers decided to forces to set up a dairy on a co-operative basis. This would allow them to rationalize dairy operations, to afford buying modern production equipment and to hire skilled dairy professionals. This in turn enabled them to supply high-quality products and to fetch higher prices.

The farmers committed to supplying their entire milk production to the dairy in return for a claim on the profits according to their milk supply. Consequently, a rich farmer with many cows would take home more money than a farmer with a small herd, but at the general assembly they would be equal: one man - one vote. The co-operative movement was democracy at work. The co-operative idea soon spread across the country and in 1900 there were more than 1,000 co-operative dairies in Denmark. Without any sort of central management or control they managed, in a matter of just few years, to reshape a large share of the agricultural production, and the dairy industry found a setting, which has largely applied ever since.

DANISH DAIRY INDUSTRY • Exports of dairy products for more than 20 percent of all Danish agricultural exports. • The Danish dairy industry consists of the international dairy group Arla Foods and 30 smaller dairy companies, together processing 4.7 billion kg milk from a total of 61 production plants in Denmark.

• Cooperatively owned by Danish and Swedish milk producers, Arla Foods is Europe’s largest dairy group. The Arla  group processes more than 90 percent of the Danish and two thirds of the Swedish milk pool. It also runs dairy operations in a number of other countries, with Arla UK plc as its biggest business.

• The remaining 30 Danish dairies are evenly distributed between cooperatively and privately owned companies. The small dairies typically specialise in various product areas within cheese, butter and liquid milk production. A large part of their production is exported by specialised exporters.

The value of all Danish dairy exports totals EUR 1.8 billion annually. The domestic market is, to a large extent, a market for domestic dairy production, although imported cheese and yoghurt now for approx. 25 percent and 20 percent, respectively, of total domestic consumption. The market share of foreign milk remains moderate. Like the processing sector, the Danish milk producers have seen tremendous structural change, with production now taking place on a small number of large farms. In 2010, approx. 4,100 dairy farmers each had an average of 127 cows and a milk quota of 1,142 tonnes. This places the Danish dairy farmers among the largest and most modern in Europe. More than half the cows live in new loose-housing systems. Exports of dairy products, in particular cheese, preserved milk products and butter, for more than 20 percent of all Danish agricultural exports. The largest market for Danish dairy products is the other EU countries.

….By Harleen Kaur(Class: 8th A 2) (Roll No: 8)