Agriculture and Danish farm returns through 100 years 1916-2015

Since the first farm returns were reported for statistical purposes for the financial year 1916-17, Danish agriculture has lived through quite a few things.

In the first year of the statistics, World War I implied that the countries at war experienced increased demand for e.g. food. As a result, Denmark, which did not participate in the war, was able to sell agricultural products at high prices. By contrast, it was difficult to export in the years of recession in the 1930s and it was necessary to implement emergency farm aid, e.g. in order to reduce high levels of debt.

     2. World War II boosted the technological development and, in the post-war years, horses were 
     increasingly replaced by engine power.

When Denmark became a member of the EEC in 1973, new demands were made on the agricultural accounts in the statistics, which were to conform to the same method as that of the other member countries. With the book Agriculture and Danish farm returns through 100 years, Statistics Denmark gives the reader an insight into Danish agriculture and its development, in particular in the 20th century.

The publication includes e.g.:

• Mechanisation and specialisation of the agricultural sector, which has experienced soaring productivity.
• Accounting figures for 100 years, which show e.g. the development in gross output, operating costs, economic indicators, capital and debts.
• The preparation of the statistics has undergone method changes, increased the level of detail and, as a result, it has become more applicable in research.

Moreover, the table JORD100 has been added to Statbank.dk to mark the centennial year for the agricultural accounts.

Here you can extract accounting figures for agriculture back to 1916 and up to 2015, which is the last stated year with accounts statistics for agriculture (only in Danish).