Guest Commentary: Stalder's Thoughts on Denmark

Top left: The ISU group enjoying life as Vikings.
Top right: Here, the students have coffee inside a German WWII bunker on the island Fanø.
Bottom left: Dr. Ken Stalder (center) visits with a Danish farmer and advisor on sow management.

After having a brief tour of Danish agriculture on the trip with the 11 undergraduate students from Iowa State University, a few things became adamantly clear to me. The students on the trip are a real class act. These students and others like them will soon be in the workforce and develop into our future leaders. The excitement and knowledge they will bring to their chosen agricultural field is refreshing. It is refreshing to know that because these students and others like them are gaining a better understanding of agriculture in their own country and abroad, they will make better employees. The students on the trip gained much knowledge about Danish agriculture systems, different cultures and their way of living. Most importantly, they learned how to get along with their colleagues for 3 weeks while traveling abroad.

The first week involved touring a variety of agricultural industries throughout Denmark. This included a visit to a dairy processing plant, pork processing facility, large greenhouse operation, and several livestock farms. In many cases, this was the students’ first experience with some industries. Their excitement and their ability to ask thoughtful questions would have made all of their parents very proud. Each student then had the opportunity to stay and work on the farms alongside their host family. Many of the students gained new knowledge by staying with a Danish farmer who has livestock that they did not have previous experience with. Other students immersed themselves on a Danish farm where they have previous livestock experience to learn how animals can be raised in a different manner than they are used to seeing. Finally, the last week brought together their knowledge by allowing each student to visit with others about their previous week’s experience on the farms. Further, the students got to see how other cultures live and how costly things like food and gas are compared to what they see in the U.S. All in all, the trip is a great experience for the students; getting an opportunity to go abroad really gives them a new picture of life back in Iowa. I know some of the students are thinking of taking an internship for a semester to study in another country, something that few of them probably had considered before going on this trip.

The other unique opportunity was to gain a better understanding of the Danish ways of educating farmers and people working in agricultural fields and the Danish farming system. Denmark requires people intending to be farmers to attend an agricultural school for a minimum of two years. During this process the students are required to work on farms, which gives them real life experience. Further, they study all aspects of the agricultural system while at school. The culminating event during this process is developing a whole farm plan including the financial aspects of the farm. This process is so involved that many students intending to farm after school develop a farm business plan that can be taken directly to the banker to gain financing to begin farming.

Editor’s Note: Dr. Stalder is an Extension swine specialist at Iowa State University and is involved with the Iowa Pork Industry Center in Ames, Iowa. His comments will continue in part two of this commentary. For more information, contact Dr. Stalder at: stalder@iastate.edu

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