The changing face of Danish agri­cul­ture

The average age of a Danish farmer is close to 60, and the number of farms where the owner is over 70 is on the rise. Agri­cul­tural colleges are teeming with young blood keen to take over, but it requires money. So much, in fact, that you almost need a wealthy uncle to help.

For 22-year-old Victor Bats­berg Jokumsen, this is not an option. With no farm in the family, taking over a family busi­ness is not possible either. Never­the­less, by the time he reaches 30 he plans to own an entire 635-ha potato farm, Sønder­heden Land­brug, in north-east Jutland – and he knows how to get there.

Eyes set on sole owner­ship

Denmark has seen a 30% increase in agri­cul­tural land prices in recent years. Statis­tics Denmark puts this down to several factors including consol­i­da­tion towards fewer but larger farms, external investors’ appetite for agri­cul­tural land, and politi­cians’ deci­sion to convert 15% of agri­cul­tural land into nature reserves.

Despite the chal­lenges, Victor remains opti­mistic when thinking about the future. Unusu­ally for a new entrant, and despite the growing trend towards corpo­rate owner­ship of farms through capital funds and wealthy investors, Victor is doing things differ­ently. “It would certainly be a much easier solu­tion for me to go down that route; finan­cially speaking too,” he says. “But it is not just about money.”

It is about self-deter­mi­na­tion, making one’s own deci­sions, and replacing uncer­tainty with certainty.

Victor wants to be master of his own destiny, not subject to the whims of a majority-owning share­holder. “Other­wise, there will always be a lingering fear about whether things will carry on,” he points out. “If the fund believes it can make more money else­where or wants to switch to a new line of busi­ness then you are out on your ear.”

Of course, Victor is well aware that the respon­si­bility for finances will rest solely on him – and that his exper­tise does not cover all the areas required in modern agri­cul­ture today. “There are many hats to wear,” he acknowl­edges. “But I do not have to do it all on my own. A farm must operate in collab­o­ra­tion with people who have the educa­tion and moti­va­tion to help manage the indi­vidual func­tions in the right way.”

Mentoring mindset

As a young lad, Victor spent a lot of time helping the family’s neigh­bour, Morten Petersen, with his potato farm. In 2017, Morten bought a large prop­erty and hired Victor, who was 13 at the time, to mow the lawn and lend a hand. Their part­ner­ship grew, and when Victor gave up on his dream of becoming a foot­baller, Morten offered him an appren­tice­ship. A couple of years later, the oper­a­tions manager left and, as the sole employee, Victor was given increasing respon­si­bility. He bought fertiliser and pesti­cides, obtained a spraying certifi­cate, and has been in charge of all field oper­a­tions since 2022.

“I use Morten as a sounding board, but the respon­si­bility is mine, and I make the deci­sions,” he says. “I am grateful that Morten has shown trust in me and had the courage to give me respon­si­bility. It has certainly cost him some­thing along the way, but I have learned from it, and it has given me the confi­dence to be self-employed.”

Eigh­teen months ago, Morten bought another prop­erty in the area. He is 60 years old; his chil­dren have no interest in agri­cul­ture, so he looked Victor straight in the eye. Was he inter­ested? They consulted the bank, which prob­ably thought Victor was rather young, and gave them some good advice along the way. This included the need for a good educa­tion and a plan for the takeover. “Even though we didn’t get a loan, it was great of the bank to advise us,” says Victor, who went home and sketched out an eight-year takeover plan.

Victor’s invest­ment in learning, means he is already well on his way to preparing himself for the future. As an EUX farmer – a combi­na­tion of a voca­tional qual­i­fi­ca­tion in farming and an upper secondary school leaving certifi­cate – in 2027 he will also qualify as an agri­cul­tural econ­o­mist.

Bit by bit

Sønder­heden Agri­cul­ture comprises three prop­er­ties covering 635ha, of which 150ha are used for seed pota­toes. But Rome wasn’t built in a day, so Morten and Victor have built a handover plan, on a hectare-by-hectare basis.

In the first year, Victor rented 10ha, the following year a further 20ha – and so on for five years. During the last three years of the plan­ning period, capital must be built up to take over the entire farm. At Victor’s own expense and risk, he now grows starch pota­toes on the leased land. While this has eaten into his child­hood savings and equity, the profit is his alone. Last year, he also estab­lished his own company, VBJ Agro, with a view to receiving a share of the start-up grant for young farmers.

“I am learning a lot by standing on my own two feet, including finan­cially,” he says. “Even though it is still on a small scale, it has simply confirmed that I must be inde­pen­dent. I am also pleased that I can continue Morten’s life’s work in this way, so he does not have to see it scat­tered to the four winds.”

Despite taking control of the farm, Victor has no plans to change his choice of crops. He is ‘in love’ with pota­toes, and in the long term plans to tran­si­tion to seed pota­toes, as he believes he will enjoy supplying a high-quality product on which other farmers can build their produc­tion.

Head­winds

However, the love of potato produc­tion is not without its prob­lems. Denmark is in the process of phasing out 23 pesti­cides; the last one will disap­pear in 2027, which will hit conven­tional growers hard finan­cially. Despite this, Victor remains posi­tive, pointing out that the EU has approved the use of new genomic tech­niques (NGT) for plant breeding. This means that, for example, it will be possible to breed pota­toes that are immune to various diseases. The legis­la­tion will be phased in over two years, and he thinks it’s a shame it can’t come in sooner, as with NGT-treated mate­rial, the need for spraying can likely be reduced by 80%.

Nor does he allow himself to be knocked off course by harsh public crit­i­cism of agri­cul­ture, which recently led to a major polit­ical switch away from food produc­tion to envi­ron­mental measures. “At the moment, it is a bit of a scat­tergun approach, so a lot of the policy misses the mark,” notes Victor. “The Danes have never gone without food, while at the same time we as a nation have devel­oped a commodity. This is a task that we, as the agri­cul­tural sector, have – and will continue to – gladly take on. Because we can, and because we enjoy the work. I think the hurdles will be over­come.”

So what advice does he have for those hoping to be part of Danish farming’s future? “Show young people trust and give them respon­si­bility,” he urges existing farmers. “It makes you grow in self-belief too, so that you dare to pursue the dream of a life where family life and agri­cul­ture go hand-in-hand.’