Danish Agriculture
| Date | 01 January 1927 |
| Published date | 01 January 1927 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1927.tb02280.x |
| Author | M. Madsen‐Mygdal |
Danish
Agriculture
By
M.
MADSEN-MYGDU
Former Minister
of
Agriculture
[S+eech
to
Members
of
Instituie
of
Public Administration during visit to
Denmark, September,
19261
NE
of the most characteristic features of Danish agriculture is
0
its great productivity. Of those few products which Danish
agriculture has made her speciality, the production
of
butter, bacon,
and eggs, have been developed and increased to such an extent that
1
think
I
dare say without being immodest that Denmark is not surpassed
by any other country. Remarkable in this respect
is
the great part
agriculture plays in Denmark’s foreign trade. When the efforts of
all
Danish farmers are united the result is
a
production which besides covering
the whole home consumption of food has been able to present
a
surplus
for export of something like
120,000
tons of butter, nearly
200,000
tons
of
bacon, and
8
millions
of
great hundreds
of
eggs yearly
;
this
export,
together with the export
of
horses, cattle, and meat representing
85
to
go
per cent. of the whole
of
the export from Denmark.
I
do not think
that there
is
any other country in the world where the export of agricultrual
products of animal
origin
plays
so
great
a
part in the whole export trade.
It seems all the more strange considering the small size of the country that
the export of butter, bacon, and eggs should actually be greater than that
of any other country, even the biggest.
This
overwhelming importance
in the foreign trade may be due to certain important peculiarities of
Danish agriculture.
The number of milk-cows
is
comparatively bigger than that
of
any
other country in Europe. In normal times, for instance,
in
1914,
just
before the
war,
Denmark had per
roo
inhabitants
46
cows,
in
Holland
there were
18,
in Germany
16,
in
England
10.
For the feeding of these many cows during
our
seven or eight winter
months it
is
necessary for us to cultivate about
15
per cent. of
our
total
area
with
roots. Besides that we have
a
proportionally great
and
increasing import
of
oilcak-about half
a
ton
per
cow-and little
Denmark has for many years been the main consumer
of
American cotton
cakes.
In
1914
the number
of
pigs were
88
per
roo
inhabitants,
in
comparison
Germany had only
33,
Holland
32,
England
8.
These few
figures
demonstrate
how
peculiar the
animal
husbandry
is
53
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