Denmark Archives - Agricultural and Rural Convention

Behind the Danish Green Tripartite – Democracy, Smallholders and the Rights of Rural People

November 27, 2024 ARC

Ole Kjaerulff Davidsen of Frie bonder – Levende Land argues that The Green Tripartite Agreement in Denmark represents a worrying step backwards for democracy and human rights, excluding small farmers and rural organisations from decisions that deeply impact their lives. In so doing, it violates the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants. Immediate action is needed to demand genuine democratic involvement and prioritise sustainable farming practices and rural rights that benefit people, nature, and the planet. […]

The Green Tripartite Agreement Locks in Industrial Ag and Biotech Solutionism

November 26, 2024 ARC

The Danish Green Tripartite could lock in the existing industrial farming system, based on the promises of questionable (bio)technologies. Denmark’s farming system needs a structural transformation and the use of GMOs should be tightly regulated to prevent further ecological damage. As it stands, this Agreement will do nothing to transform the farming sector in Denmark to a truly sustainable model. By June Rebekka Bresson (Noah, Denmark) and Franziska Achterberg (SOS, Germany). […]

Political Deal reached on Denmark’s Green Tripartite – What’s in it and what’s not?

November 19, 2024 Asger Mindegaard

After a long silence saturated with rumours and speculations, a broad majority Monday presented a political deal on implementing the informal green tripartite agreement (IGTA) from June. The deal sees stronger reduction targets for Nitrogen pollution than were initially proposed, while maintaining the climate tax and land use changes proposed by earlier agreements. These latter taxes and changes have been criticised as far too little compared the the scale of the challenge by opponents, who also rail against the voluntary nature of the targets and reliance of future technologies and future political will. A significant if still controversial day for Denmark. Asger Mindegaard unpacks the preliminary details for ARC. […]

The Danish Green Tripartite Agreement Ignores a Necessary Transformation of EU Farming

November 14, 2024 Sybille Kyed

Sybille Kyed, Policy director of Organic Denmark says that the Green Tripartite Agreement sets agri-food in that country onto the wrong track. It sidelines organic farming, ignores biodiversity and soil considerations on the majority of Denmark’s land, and in so doing inadvertently solidifies a questionable use of crops and land: organic can feed more people as the rules for organic farming mean extravagant amounts of crops aren’t grown to feed indoor animals. While ambivalent on technology, Kyed is concerned the agreement directly supports technology irresponsibly. Finally, she proposes another approach, one that integrates CO2e into CAP’s GAECs and eco-scheme system. […]

Deep Dive into The Green Tripartite – what’s in, what’s not and the Tricky Issue of Implementation.

November 12, 2024 Rasmus Blædel Larsen

This longer piece by Rasmus Blædel Larsen is a deep dive into the substance of the initial Green Tripartite Agreement text, as well as into some of the earlier critics of aspects of the agreement. In particular the contentious role of trees, the ambition of the targets, impact on biodiversity and finally actual implementation. Municipalities signed up to this as partners, and have a big role in delivery – perhaps one of the most important roles. But do they have the capacity to follow through? […]

Denmark’s Green Tripartite – Politics Plays its Role

November 10, 2024 Asger Mindegaard

In this piece, Asger Mindegaard (former Green Advisor in the European Parliament) brings us up to speed with the state of play for implementation of the Green Tripartite Agreement. After much fanfare back in June, pressure is mounting from many sides. The tricky issue of Nitrogen plays a role – alongside political parties and stakeholders of many hues. […]

Stakeholder Collaboration as the Cornerstone of the Green Transition The Danish Model

November 7, 2024 Niels Peter Nørring

Here, Niels Peter Nørring Director of Climate and EU Policy at the Danish Agriculture and Food Council (DAFC) explains what’s in the Green Tripartite Agreement (GTA), which DAFC signed up to on June 25th, with a range of other stakeholders from Danish society. He introduces the Danish tradition of Tripartite agreements, the GTA’s main elements, including its livestock tax and funding, and assesses its applicability to the EU more widely. […]

Paving the Way for Agriculture Emission Reductions – the Danish case

November 7, 2024 Emil Fraas

Kicking off our series on the Danish agriculture in general, and the Green Tripartite Agreement in particular, here Emil Fraas of CONCITO introduces the broad contours of the Green Tripartite Agreement (GTA). As well as an introductory outline to the agreement, his focus is on the background that led to it, funding to support it, the role Nitrogen plays in the agreement, how integrated or otherwise the GTA is to the Common agricultural policy (CAP) and other enabling circumstances. Frass sees positives in the GTA, while also seeing merit in more ambition on climate, biodiversity and diet. […]

Impact and Opportunities of the 2023-27 CAP Reform in Denmark

June 12, 2024 ARC

In the report that accompanies this article, CONCITO analyses the implementation of the 2023-27 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform after its first year of implementation, using Denmark as a case study. The focus lies on examining the new components of the reform, namely the New Delivery Model (NDM), the enhanced conditionality, and the eco-schemes, and their contribution towards both the European Union (EU) and national objectives concerning climate, biodiversity, and the environment. Recommendations are also made for improved delivery. […]

Missing Targets and Making Partnerships – Denmark and Climate Change

January 17, 2024 Rasmus Blædel Larsen

When it comes to greenhouse gas emissions reductions, there is a dynamic tension between the ambitious aims of the EU and its member states on the one hand, and the realities of embedded, entrenched elements of the economy such as agri-food on the other. The European Union set target in 2021: a 50% reduction in Greenhouse Gas emissions (GHG) by 2030. Progress remains however, slow. Progress is especially slow in agriculture. Rasmus Larsen unpacks the situation in one of Europe’s intensive agriculture strongholds, Denmark, where, after faltering misfires, a new three way partnership has been proposed. What is this, and will it work? […]

Who Owns the Agricultural Land in Denmark?

December 12, 2023 Rasmus Blædel Larsen

What actually unfolds in the Danish land-market is clouded in secrecy. At the heart of the matter is the lack of a ownership-register or monitoring entity, which could provide clarity and transparency as to who actually owns the Danish agricultural land. […]

CAP Strategic Plan Denmark: The Art of Bypassing Fairness

May 31, 2023 Rasmus Blædel Larsen

The struggle to cap and redistribute direct payments received by the largest landowners, to support smaller farms, thereby enabling a more divers and resilient rurality, has come up against the whole financial system in Denmark. So how did Denmark end up without capping or redistributive payments? And how could the Commission accept such a proposal? […]

Denmark | Re-Scaling the Rural

June 16, 2022 Louise Kelleher

ARC2020’s Louise Kelleher and Matteo Metta were among the speakers at “AlterRurality 6: Re-Scaling the Rural”, a conference held last month in a small Danish coastal village. The interdisciplinary conference aimed to initiate a critical investigation of past, current, and what may become future concepts and interpretations of rural life. Report. […]

Catcher in the Rye: Breeding Diversity for Unpredictable Conditions

September 7, 2020 Hannes Lorenzen

The new EU organic regulation, to be implemented in 2022, promises new opportunities especially for young farmers to regain control and knowledge of local conservation, breeding, sustainable use and marketing of seeds fit for organic production. As part of the team that negotiated the new EU organic regulation, ARC2020 President Hannes Lorenzen is curious about how the new less restrictive conditions for organic seed production and marketing will impact breeders and farmers. He spoke to an organic plant breeder and a young farmer about their ideas on the future of seeds. […]

Anders Borgen | Nurd of the Niche

September 17, 2019 Hannes Lorenzen

Anders Borgen has been an organic farmer for 35 years, and has for the past 15 years worked as a private organic plant breeder in Northern Jutland, Denmark. Hannes Lorenzen meet Anders Borgen at the European Cereal Diversity Conference in Kalö near Aarhus in Denmark to discuss organic regulations, cereal diversity and other matters. […]