Tour A1, 28 June: Tour leaders: Jørgen Lund Christiansen, journalist, organiser of 40 study tours to six continents, participant in 20 IFAJ congresses, columnist Henning Otte Hansen, Senior Adviser, PhD, Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen The Danish way of handling challenges The Danish dairy sector encompasses about 2,500 farms with an average of 220 cows, of which 20 per cent are organic. In 1882, Danish farmers estab - lished their first dairy coop. In 1905 there were a total of 1,300 coops and the Lurpak brand was designed to promote export of butter to the UK. Today, only a few coops handle 95 per cent of all Danish milk. Arla Foods is one of the world’s leading dairies and handles 90 per cent of Danish milk. Arla is a multi - national company, including its ownership. The headquarters are in Denmark, but there are more than 9,000 member in Sweden, Germany, UK and Benelux. At Arla Innovation in Skejby we will meet Lars Dalsgaard, Senior Vice-President of Product & Innovation, Arla Foods Amba. Lars Dalsgaard has for the past 39 years held various management positions at Arla Foods, including dairy man - ager, dairy director, production director in Ingredients, Business Group Direc - tor in the UK, and Group Vice-President in Supply Chain. Since 2019, he has 9 had the overall responsibility for innovation at Arla, the world’s fourth largest dairy company as measured by the amount of milk received. Lars will give us the inside story on the dairy industry and the areas of focus in Innovation. We will visit Holger Hedelund’s farm with one of the finest Jersey herds in Denmark and hear about export of heifers and young cows. Holger aims to be independent from protein import. New crops are taken in and have today re - placed more than 80 per cent of soya and other protein sources from abroad. At Sejet Plant Breeding Station, owned by DLG, a leading Danish farm sup - ply coop serving more than 25,000 members, Managing Director Birger Erik - sen will tell us about goals and methods to achieve higher yields and quality adapted to local climate and environmental conditions. At the end of the day, we will have dinner with group A2 at the cultural centre Vestermølle. Throughout the day your tour guides will tell you about mandatory education of all children starting in 1814 in response to Denmark’s bankruptcy in 1813. This was followed by folk high schools and establishment of coops, which currently have more than 90 per cent of the market shares in all major sectors. That story is part of the foundation of the Danish welfare society. Dairy farmer Holger Hedelund. Lars Dalsgaard Managing Director Birger Eriksen.
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