Even though Denmark is one the smallest Scandinavian nations, Denmark has become one of the world's largest exporters of agricultural products. Because of the large output of agricultural and industrial produce, it gives this country one of the highest standards of living in the world.
Most of Denmark's land is used for farming. About seventy-five percent of Denmark's land is used for raising crops, and sixty-five percent is used for agriculture. Most of the land in Denmark is centered in the land of Jutland.
Denmark grows many grain crops. Some of these grain crops are barley, oats, wheat, rye, flax, hemp, hops, and tobacco. In the 1990's, 9,839,000 metric tons of wheat, barley, sugar beets, and rye were grown. Most say that wheat is the most important crop grown. But some say that barley is the most important crop grown because it takes up around half of the Denmark farm land.
In the United States we can not grow some of the crops they can grow in Denmark. One of these crops is hemp. Hemp is a crop grown in Denmark. In the United States hemp is not allowed to be grown because some people make it into an illegal drug named marijuana.
The soil conditions in Denmark vary greatly. In Jutland where most of the farming is centered the soil is a sandy podzolic. Podzolic is a kind of soil which is sandy and gray in color and has a limited amount of minerals and nutrients. Danish farmers use a lot of fertilizer to help produce good crops.
Some of the most important industries in Denmark are pork, beef and dairy. Ninety percent of the income comes from animal production. Some of the major industries on a Danish farm are raising hogs, beef or dairy cattle and chickens. Danish butter, cheese, eggs(the eggs are marked Danish), and meats are known all over the world.
The Denmark cooperative was started by a young man named Stilling Anderson. Anderson, who lived near Hjedding, made an agreement with the dairy farmers to take their milk to a central churning station for processing. Each cooperator had one vote regardless of the size of his farm. The advantage to having a cooperative was that the cooperative could afford the modern machinery and could have expert agriculture consultants. The products produced by the cooperative could be sold at a higher price than the products made by the individual farmer.
The Danish farmers are becoming more modern. They are starting
to use equipment like we use in the United States. They use a machine
called a harvester otherwise known to us as a combine. They also use
tractors. They use to use wind mills to grind grain, but today there is
only one of the these wind mills left. Most of the Danish farmers are
family operated. Danish farm children usually share the chores. On the
average, each worker can raise enough food to feed 100 people.
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