Researchers from the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Food and Resource Economics have looked at financial data from 80,000 EU farms comparable with similar farms in in Denmark. The picture is clear. For the most-part, Danish farmers are skilled operators who, on average, are better at exploiting their productive potential than similarly-sized producers in the EU. However, Danish agricultural producers are consistently faced with poorer production possibilities than farmers in most other EU nations.
"We can safely say that the figures demonstrate a consistent pattern. Danish farmers are good at taking advantage of opportunities, but the opportunities available to them are simply worse," according to Mette Asmild, author of the report and a professor at the Department of Food and Resource Economics.
Farms from 25 countries were covered in the analysis, including dairy, plant and swine producers.
Danish production costs are too high
Production costs are the main reason why Danish farmers experience poorer production possibilities than their counterparts in other countries. The steeper costs are attributable to factors including labor costs due to employee wages, land prices, building construction and renovation costs, feed, fertilizers, veterinarians, etc.
Read more at University of Copenhagen
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