During the period 1974-84, agriculture was not considered to be an environmental problem of any significance. The only cases arising were minor problems between farmers and their neighbours concerning fly-covered manure heaps and countryside odours. These only served to strengthen the impression that the environmental authorities should use their time on more important matters in other sectors.
However, a 1984 Danish EPA report on nutrients concluded that N leaching from agricultural land was a major source of pollution. The debate raised by the report resulted in the first initiatives in 1985-86, the following being taken from a parliamentary decision to curb that leaching1:
| Farmers shall be required to have manure slurry storage tanks of a capacity sufficient to enable them to apply the slurry at times of the year when there is least risk of leaching. |
| Farmers producing and employing solid manure (usually farmers with small livestock herds) shall store it on an impermeable base. |
| Harmonization shall be a requirement, i.e. there shall be a reasonable relationship between manure production by the livestock herd and the area of the adjoining farmland. |
| Animal fertilizer shall be applied at times of the year when there is least risk of leaching. |
In autumn 1986, large areas of Danish marine waters suffered from serious oxygen depletion. This was the subject of considerable media interest and triggered off hectic political activity. The latter resulted in the adoption of the Action Plan on the Aquatic Environment in 19872. The elements of the plan relating to industry and municipal sewage treatment plants have already been discussed above. The main objective of the plan was to reduce N loading of the aquatic environment by 50% and P loading by 80%. Agricultural discharges were to be reduced from 260,000 tonnes to 133,000 tonnes. The other sectors were to achieve at least equally great reductions, even though N reduction is relatively more expensive in the other sectors3. The specific ideas in the plan were partly a tightening of some of the elements mentioned above, and partly the introduction of requirements on winter-green fields and on fertilization strategy.
In 1990 it was ascertained that the N leaching from agriculture had not been significantly reduced. The Ministry of Agriculture and Fishery was therefore assigned the responsibility for drawing up a plan for "sustainable agriculture". The plan was ready in 1991, whereafter it was processed in the political system. The political decision was made in an ad hoc Parliamentary Select Committee - not in the Environment and Regional Planning Committee, which normally deals with environmental questions. Political acceptance was given to the main elements of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fishery’s proposal: the goal of a 50% reduction in N loading was maintained, but the time frame was stretched to the year 2000. The measures proposed were to a large extent those already discussed, together with an expectation of extensive set-aside of farmland. Several of the elements were made even more comprehensive, in particular the requirement concerning fertilization strategy.
Around 1990, it was discovered that ammonia volatilization from livestock housing, slurry tanks and slurry application was also a major source of pollution. The measures that the Parliamentary Select Committee had decided upon were also suited to curbing that problem, however.
7.2.2. Requirements currently in force:
The main elements of Danish environmental requirements to agriculture are the result of the above mentioned course of events. It has been turbulent, and the requirements have been changed almost every second year, sometimes being made more stringent and sometimes less.
In order to be able to understand the specific rules it is necessary to be familiar with the term 1 livestock unit (LU)5. This is equivalent to an annual manure production of 100 kg N, i.e. the amount of manure produced by 1 cow of a large race, 2 horses, 3 sows, 30 slaughter-ready pigs or 2,500 slaughter-ready chickens (broilers).
Pig farms and chicken farms with over 250 LU are listed enterprises, and therefore have to be individually approved. Since 1994 they have also to undergo EIA procedure (see Section 5.3.1). The rules otherwise applying to livestock farms are as follows, the first four points being stipulated in Ministry of Environment and Energy rules and the last two in Ministry of Agriculture and Fishery rules6:
| Storage capacity: Livestock farms have to have sufficient storage capacity to store their manure slurry for as long as is necessary to comply with their fertilization strategy and the rules governing the application of animal fertilizer. The norm would be a capacity for 6-9 months’ manure slurry production. In the case of pig farms exceeding 60 LU, a 1,000 m3 manure slurry storage tank has to be built (approx. cost DKK 250,000) to store 9 months’ slurry production. The farmer is able to obtain a subsidy covering 25-40% of the costs, however. The required storage capacity has to be available in 1995 or 1996. |
| Sealed manure heaps: Farmers producing or employing solid manure have to have a storage area with an impermeable base. |
| Harmony between the size of the livestock herd and that of the farm: The main rule is that there must not be more than 2 LU per ha (though 2.3 LU per ha for cattle farms and 1.7 LU per ha for pig farms)7. If the farmer does not have sufficient land himself, he can enter into a written agreement with another farmer having more than sufficient land to apply the manure on that land. |
| Fertilizer application requirements: The general rule is that animal manure shall be applied at times of the year when the vegetation in the fields is able to take up the nutrients contained in the manure. Thus manure slurry must not be applied between harvest and 1 February. Because of ammonia volatilization, a further requirement is that manure slurry is to be ploughed in as quickly as possible, and in any event within 12 hours. |
| Green cover: 65% of a farm has to be maintained winter-green. i.e. winter seed or such like has to be sown after harvest, the idea being that the vegetation will take up some of the nitrate that would otherwise leach from the fields during the winter. |
| Fertilization strategy and fertilization budgets: Farmers shall draw up a fertilization strategy twice a year (1 September and 31 March). In addition, the authorities can undertake spot checks and require a farmer to submit a fertilization budget at the end of the year. In drawing up his fertilization strategy, the farmer has to base it on specific figures for percentage utilization. In the case of pig manure slurry, for example, the farmer has from 1997 to base his strategy on the assumption that 50% of the nitrogen in the manure will be exploited, and has to reduce his consumption of commercial fertilizer accordingly. The objective with these rules is to prevent over-fertilization, there having been a tendency for farmers with animal fertilizer to utilize too much commercial fertilizer. |
It should be added that the Danish Agricultural Properties Act now adds further requirements to the above. Thus it requires that farmers with large livestock herds own a greater part of the necessary land themselves. For example, if a farmer has between 251 and 500 LU, he has to own 75% of the necessary land. In future it will not be allowed to establish units with more than 500 LU, and a farmer who wants to work with one or more units of 500 LU has to own all of the necessary land8. The objective is to curb the present tendency to concentrate livestock production in very large units.
The relationship between the Danish rules and the EC Nitrate Directive (91/676) is as follows: The whole of Denmark is considered a "vulnerable zone", the reason being that the water supply is based almost solely on groundwater. The required "action plan" is now the plan on Sustainable Agriculture, the latter having superseded the Action Plan on the Aquatic Environment, while the required "monitoring programme" is the one set up under the Action Plan on the Aquatic Environment9. The required "code of good farming practice" is the rules stipulated by the Ministry of Environment and Energy and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fishery. In order to fully comply with the Directive, however, it might be necessary for Denmark to tighten the harmonization rules slightly in 1999.
Further measures implemented in recent years include rules on the minimum distance between animal housing and neighbours. These rules aim to solve the well-known problem of neighbours complaining about odour. The minimum distance to neighbouring housing is now 50 m for farms with more than 15 LU. In the case of medium-sized farms (120-150 LU), there is a minimum distance requirement of 300 m from urban zones and summer cottage zones. The requirements do not apply to existing livestock farms, but these may not be changed or expanded if the distance is too short.
Distance requirements also apply to fur farms10. For example, fox farms have to lie at least 200 m from neighbouring housing, while for other fur farms, e.g. mink, the distance is 100 m. The distances are increased to 300 m and 200 m, respectively, if the fur farm lies in the vicinity of an urban zone or a summer cottage zone. If the farm has over 10,000 females, the required distance is increased to 400 m and 300 m, respectively.
The field burning of straw is prohibited in Denmark, the reason being
that it is considered a waste of resources. It is preferred that the straw be used as an
energy source for farm or district heating or electricity production, etc. If that is not
possible, then the most useful is to plough the straw in.
