Suddenly Erik Pedersen only wears black boxer shorts. He also signals to the journalist NRC must undress, “except for your underpants.” A standard procedure to be allowed into his pigsty. “There is a chance that you can introduce infections through your clothing,” says the 35-year-old pig farmer near Vrå, a village at the top of Jutland, the northernmost corner of Denmark. Pedersen does keep his wedding ring on, but after eleven years of marriage he can no longer take it off his finger, he says with a laugh.
The outside door of his pigsty only opens if a sensor recognizes the fingerprint of Pedersen or one of his seven employees. They come from Nepal, from Ukraine. Pedersen doesn’t like Danes, “with their nine-to-five mentality.” In the hall to the stable, equipped with three showers with curtains and a set of washing machines, Pedersen puts on a green shirt, black overalls and rubber clogs. The reporter receives the same outfit and must indicate on an attendance list that he or she has not been in another pigsty in the past 24 hours. Pedersen smears his phone with disinfectant. Then all procedures have been completed and the farmer opens the door to ‘his’ 1,257 sows and thousands of piglets.
Denmark is a country of pigs – on a bus shelter in Vrå a pig playing a guitar even promotes the local music festival. The country with 6 million inhabitants is home to more than 12 million pigs, according to the Danish statistical office. About 90 percent of the production of the more than 5,000 pig farms is for export – according to the agricultural trade association, Denmark is one of the largest exporters of pigs and pork in the world. By comparison: the Netherlands counts according to CBS figures more than 2,500 companies where together almost 9.8 million pigs are kept – mainly for export.
But now Denmark is struggling with its pigs. Intensive pig farming contributes to drinking water contamination and nitrogen emissions. Moreover, the living conditions of pigs are seen as so problematic that parties from left to right promised to improve animal welfare in pig stables during the parliamentary elections last March. Media even mentioned ‘the pig elections’.
The contours of a new approach to pig farming are emerging in Denmark. At the beginning of June, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen presented her new government as “the greenest ever”. The minority coalition of social democrats, socialists, social liberals and moderates, which receives tolerable support from the Red-Green Alliance, wants to “majorly reform” pig farming.
Frederiksen specifically wants to tackle the large-scale export of live pigs. From now on, the sector must focus ‘primarily’ on pigs that the Danes eat themselves, or that are slaughtered in their own country and then exported, it says. coalition agreement. Wages are high in Denmark – having pigs slaughtered abroad is often cheaper.
Prime Minister Frederiksen also wants to intervene in the stables. For example, an existing ban on cutting off (docking) pig tails must be “actually” complied with by 2030. Five years after that, “extreme breeding methods” must also be banned. The government wants to phase out the practice of locking sows between iron bars (‘farrowing cages’). And municipalities can now reject the construction of new pig stables on the grounds of consequences for nature, the environment and local residents.
Furthermore, farmers, nature and animal rights organizations and social partners must agree on “a new direction and vision” for Danish pig farming – including animal welfare, which will receive more attention. A bit analogous to the (failed) Dutch Agricultural Agreement. The government gives them six months, otherwise it will take “steps” itself.
The fact that Denmark should receive fewer pigs is not explicitly stated in the coalition agreement. However, it is estimated that the measures will lead to a quarter fewer pigs, it was reported broadcaster DR Wednesday. Union Danske Svine producer is so “concerned” about the “restrictions” that “will lead to closures” that on Wednesday even “crisis consultation” was held.
Discussion with ‘opponents’
From his living room on the farm, with lots of art on the walls and an extensive wine collection – which he deals in in addition to pigs – Erik Pedersen follows the changes with horror. He had heard Prime Minister Frederiksen say on TV that 25,000 pigs die every day in Denmark and that this must stop. “Disinformation,” says Pedersen. “She also counts stillborn pigs.”
He likes to discuss with ‘opponents’ on social media. “I give them the facts, many have never been to a farm.” Although Pedersen himself is not averse to provocation. “I wrote on Facebook that the new government should take a back seat to distributing food if their plans cause famine – a bit controversial, I know.”
If all new plans go ahead, Pedersen foresees that he will have to quit. “If only we had a buyout scheme here like in the Netherlands,” he sighs.
On a griddle over a fire in his garden – he “doesn’t like stoves” – Pedersen bakes hamburgers for lunch. They are made from local cows, he believes local production is important. However, after nine weeks, his own pigs go into the truck, a nine-hour drive to a farmer in Germany, who prepares them for slaughter. Pedersen’s pigs end up like ‘Danish bacon’ in British supermarkets.
He is an eighth-generation farmer, and his children’s pedal tractors lie in the garden. Pedersen’s parents have a pig farm in nearby Brønderslev. He initially wanted to become a blacksmith, but found it “too monotonous”. Nine years ago, Pedersen bought a pig farm. ‘Est. 2017’, reads the khaki vest with company logo that he wears over his checked shirt. In the elections he voted for the liberal Venstre, which is against too drastic measures but believes that farmers who violate the rules should be punished more severely.
In Pedersen’s pigsty, more than the smell of manure, what is striking is the relative silence. In one corner there is some joy as an employee sprays some pigs. The rest stands or lies. Pedersen agrees that his animals have a boring existence. Look, Pedersen points to a group, “there are the pigs that are being bullied.” Pigs are intelligent animals. They bully each other out of boredom. “The bullied pigs often get along well with each other,” says Pedersen. He walks to a box with a note hanging above it saying ‘hospital’. This pig has an inflamed joint, he points out. “If activists came into my stable, they would only pick out this pig,” he says, while his other livestock are “doing well.”
Sow number 5,071 is ‘caged’ – an iron bar prevents her from getting up or turning around. This gives control over the way the sow lies, says Pedersen, and reduces the risk of piglets being crushed under the sow. Animal rights organizations are strongly against ‘cages’. “I would like to remove that bar,” says Pedersen. That will probably result in more dead piglets, but he thinks the well-being of the sow is more important. Then why doesn’t he remove those bars? “The bank sees me coming, I have taken out a loan and cannot suddenly change my business plan.” He pets sow 5,071.
The pig’s tails have been cut off in his stable. “I would rather not do it, but my supplier asks for it,” says Pedersen. Pigs bite off each other’s tails, partly due to stress. The farmer assures that genetics also play a role. As an “experiment,” Pedersen sometimes lets tails hang.
Pedersen puts his hand on the doorknob. He gets emotional. His mother, he says, thinks it is especially important that pigs are fat enough. And he explains to her that living conditions “nowadays” are also important. “Of course I love my pigs. I do fucking I’ll try hard for them, but it’s never enough for the radicals in Copenhagen!” They see pigs “as pets.” It remains just an industry, says Pedersen, pigs end up in the slaughterhouse.
Plans are not yet concrete
Experts emphasize that the plans are not yet concrete. Take the prevention of exports. “It seems unlikely to me that this is possible within the European internal market,” says agricultural economist Henning Otte Hansen of the University of Copenhagen. Jens Peter Nielsen, professor of animal welfare at the same university, thinks that stopping extreme breeding practices will be “difficult”. “Denmark is known for intensive breeding: a sow here has an average of fourteen nipples and produces twenty piglets per litter.” Nielsen is most curious about enforcement of the docking ban. “Then you have to give pigs more attention and space. Not every farmer will be able to do that, so they may have to stop.”
How did pig farming actually become such an important political issue in Danish politics? Rune Stubager, professor of political science at Aarhus University, points to the effective lobbying of some environmental and animal organizations. “They know how to play the lobby game exactly, for years animal welfare or drinking water pollution were really not such a topic.”
Stubager mainly looks at Danmarks Naturfredningsforening. “This largest nature organization has been somewhat apolitical for years, but has started to speak out more strongly under the leadership of some former politicians.” The leader of the nature organization has become the new environment minister. The organization is “hopeful” about the measures. “As a society, we cannot live ethically or ecologically with pig farming with such poor animal welfare and such enormous environmental costs.” The Danish animal protection agency mentions it “a confrontation with the status quo.” “For the first time we see a government that wants to tackle the core of the problems in pig farming.”
In northern Jutland, Erik Pedersen offers to take the reporter to Vrå train station. In the car, among the rapeseed, the smooth plots of grassland and the pigsties, he suddenly grabs his phone. He knows that this is not allowed behind the wheel, but is too curious about the new minister of agriculture, who will be announced soon. Pedersen is silent for a moment. Then he shouts in surprise: “The Minister of Agriculture will be completely abolished! Instead we will have a Minister of Nature and Animal Welfare! Have they gone crazy in Copenhagen?”
The car sways a little.
Also read
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen forms a new government after 69 days. ‘The greenest ever’, says Copenhagen