Ráðunautafundur - 20.02.1996, Blaðsíða 10

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have been turned into rural areas, roads etc. Simultaneously, productivity has increased
dramaticaily so the total production of Danish farming continues to be very high, in actual fact
sufficient to supply the population of Denmark three times.
Table 1.
1965 1975 1985 1994
Farms, number 187,000 127,000 89,000 67,300
Average size, ha 17 23 31 40
Dairy cow numbers 1,350,000 1,094,000 951,000 700,000
Herd number 135,900 63,200 31,800 16,500
Cows per herd 9.9 17.3 29.9 42.4
This development has stepped up the farmers’ demands on the agricultural advisory
service, the research institutes and the agricultural schools. It is expected that these demands
will increase as the productivity and the total production per farm go up. Not least will farm
management be in demand.
HOW HAS THE ADVISORY SERVICE DEVELOPED?
One of the keywords mentioned in the introduction was that the Danish agricultural advisory
service is user-managed and organized by the farmers’ organizations. The by far iargest of
these organizations is the Danish Farmers’ Union who is the central organization for all the
local farmers’ unions. The Danish Family Farmers’ Association is another organization,
representing 15-20% of the Danish production. In spite of the fact that the memberships of
these two organizations typically differ as regards politics, which is often expressed in the
field of farm politics, they have succeeded in founding the Danish Agricultural Advisory
Centre.
It has been an immense advantage for the entire Danish agricultural advisory service
because through this decision the central organizations very clearly emphasized the need for
the same qualified advisory services irrespective of the single member being affíliated to one
organization or another.
STATE-SUBSIDIZED SERVICES
As long as the Danish agricultural advisory service has existed, Danish farming has been sub-
sidized by the state, primarily covering part of the advisers’ salaries and travel expenses. The
subsidy is due to special legislation, the margin of expenditure being on the budget every year
and thus subject to the decisions made by the political parties. In 1972 a limitation on staff