According to the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, Denmark is once again the world leader when it comes to the purchase of organic products by consumers. Organic farmers, however, long for a more open discussion about the transparency of the impact of farming in general.
By Henry Stoner & Sigurd Bjørn
Farming has, throughout the centuries, been a cornerstone of Danish export and production. Denmark shares the record for the most percentage of farmland in the world with Bangladesh, according to Danish Statistics.
Most of the farmed land is used for fodder, mainly pigs, which Denmark then exports throughout the world, especially to Asia.
Of all the farmed land in Denmark, about 80 percent is used for fodder for agricultural animals, according to Animal Protection Denmark and The Danish Society for Nature Conservation , organisations that seek to improve welfare for both animals and nature in Denmark.
About 90 percent of the farmland in Denmark is used for conventional farming, which means a vast amount of pesticides are used to keep the yield of the crops high. This has a side effect on the environment that for many years, has been a growing concern for the health of the Danish tap water, which is extracted from the ground.
This heavy use of pesticides is something that organic farmers wish to combat, but it has its drawbacks, even if consumers are willing in Denmark to pay a premium for organic produce.
Farming in line with nature
Many of the organic farmers we spoke to in our development of this story had the wish that farming should be more in line with nature. More holistically focused farming, not necessarily focused on yield and export.
Karoline Rasmussen is a newly graduated organic farmer from Kalø Organic Farming School in Mols, Denmark, an agricultural school solely devoted to educating organic farmers.
“One of the reasons I wanted to be an organic farmer is because I wanted to be more in touch with the produce that we consume and have a more holistic approach to farming.”
At the farm where Rasmussen works, one of their main goals is to educate the average consumer about the kind of approaches they apply to be organic.
That includes how to protect the soil they work with and having talks with locals about why organic farming is important to the environment.
One of the drawbacks of organic farming is the yield that it produces compared to conventional farming, according to a study published in Ecological Economics in 2017.
The numbers for yield are highly debated, but some researchers claim the yield could be reduced by up to 40 percent.
According to Niels Halberg, director for the DCA – Danish Centre of Food and Agriculture, that is one of the reasons that CONCITO, a Danish green think tank, is against the complete shift to organic:
“The yield question is intriguing, the science is making progress, but that is one of the drawbacks of organic farming.”
Danes are the most organic in the world
According to a recent study by the Danish Technical University, Danes are more than willing to pay the premium that is associated with organic produce, which includes vegetables, grain, dairy, and meat. They are also among the most environmentally conscious consumers in the world if they are provided with information, according to the study.
Krumme in Mols is one of the farmers that has felt the increased demand for organic produce. He is the daily leader of the local organic farm connected to the Kalø Organic Agricultural School, which produces local organic produce in a wide variety.
“Over the last years, the demand has steadily increased, and we get more and more inquiries from consumers about our products.”
According to Krumme, there is a drawback associated with being an organic farmer:
“To be an organic farmer, you have to have a stringent list of regulations to abide by, there is a lot of paperwork associated with being an organic farmer.”
This extra bureaucratic work and the regulations you have to live up to. That work includes permits and stringent control by the government. That is also why there is a premium on the prices of produce that are organic, but that is not an issue for the consumers that Krumme provides to:
“Our customers are more than willing to pay the extra price premium associated with our products, as long as there is transparency in regard to why there is a premium on certain produce.”
Future of farming
Halberg, director for the DCA – Danish Centre of Food and Agriculture, comments that there are still some difficulties in Denmark associated with Organic Farming, but highlights that Denmark is at the forefront of the collaboration between farmers, researchers, and scientists, at a level that most countries in the world, even in the European Union, are not.
This intertwining between research and actual farming is one of the reasons, according to Halberg, that we in Denmark have such a healthy relationship between science in farming and actuality.
“In Denmark, there has always been a strong collaboration between the science and practical farming, it is important to strengthen and continue this collaboration.”
Halberg specifies that other countries throughout the last forty years have tried to introduce more organic produce to consumers throughout the European Union, but it has not been successful. The reasons for this, according to Halberg, have been that the consumer system has not been geared towards the purchase of organic produce, such as milk, dairy, and vegetables, for instance. At least not to the level at which it has been in Denmark.
One of the solutions to this, according to Halberg and Rasmussen, is a greater focus on labelling of organic and CO2 Emission friendly agricultural products:
“The change has to be both legislative and natural; it is hard to force people to make a change they are unlikely to agree to. We have to softly nudge the population, and make strong arguments as to why it is important to buy organic.”