Agricultural Finance & Co-operation. 538 



[December, 1911. 



THE GROWTH OF THE CO-OPER- 

 ATIVE MOVEMENT IN DENMARK. 



(Prom the Journal of the Board of 

 Agriculture, Vol. XVIII., No. 6, 

 September, 1911.) 



The Board have received through the 

 Foreign Office the following report, 

 which has been drawn up by Mr. R. 

 Turner, late Vice-Consul and Archivist 

 at H. M. Legation at Copenhagen, on 

 the growth and progress of the co- 

 operative movement in Denmark. 



Growth of the Co-operative Movement. — 

 Until the latter half of the last century 

 Denmark was a corn-producing country, 

 but from thirty to forty years ago 

 various causes combined to ruin this 

 branch of agriculture in the country, 

 and it was then that Danish farmers 

 began to take up dairy farming. Such 

 success attended this departure that 

 Denmark is now cited as being second 

 in the list of European countries ranked 

 according to wealth per head of the popu- 

 lation. The new departure was from the 

 beginning encouraged by the Govern- 

 ment, and the judiciously applied State 

 aid is in no small measure responsible 

 for its success. 



Apart from the geographical and other 

 natural advantages which Denmark en- 

 joys as regards this special branch of 

 the agricultural industry, its success 

 is to be very largely ascribed to the 

 perfection to which the system of co- 

 operation has been brought in the 

 country. In 1890, when the co-oper- 

 ative movement was as yet in its 

 infancy, the butter exported from the 

 country (to take one instance) was cal- 

 culated at 97,480,000 lb., while in 1905 

 Denmark exported 186,360,000 lb. of 

 butter. At the same time the number 

 of co-operative dairies had increased 

 from 781 to 1,068 (exclusive of some 200 

 communal dairies). 



Danish Co-operative System. — The sys- 

 tem of co-operation as practised in Den- 

 mark may be said to be an adaptation 

 of the English Rochdale system. The 

 first step was the foundation of a co- 

 operative supply stores about the middle 

 of last century, and this was fol- 

 lowed in 1882 by the first co-operative 

 dairy, which was started in that year 

 by Herr Stilling Anderson at Hjedding. 

 The movement has now developed so 

 far that there is not a single matter of 

 interest to the farmer that has not 

 become the object of co-operation. The 

 motto of co-operation in Denmark may 

 be said to be " Each for all and all for 

 each." This applies both to the liability 

 incurred in raising the loan necessary 



to commence the undertaking, whatever 

 it may be, and to the division of the 

 profits of that undertaking. 



Co-operation and Small Holdings. — 

 Before dealing with the individual 

 branches of agricultural co-operation in 

 Denmark, it is necessary to give a brief 

 glance at the conditions under which 

 they have come into existence and 

 flourished. A very well-informed Dane, 

 in discussing the subject, stated that, in 

 his opinion, the success of the co-oper- 

 ative movement in Denmark was depend- 

 ent on the small holdings system, and, 

 conversely, that without co-operation 

 the system of small holdings would be 

 impossible. 



Land Legislation in Denmark.— The 

 tenure of land in Denmark is, as regards 

 the larger states, very similar to that 

 in England, and no special notice need 

 be paid to it as concerning the object 

 of this report. As regards small holdings 

 and peasant farmers, however, the posi- 

 tion is different. All laud legislation in 

 Denmark for the past hundred years 

 has tended to the formation of a peasant 

 class owning small farms, as against 

 the formation of large estates. Thus, an 

 estate owner is encouraged to sell small 

 holdings or farms to the peasants. Once 

 a farm is in existence it must either be 

 kept intact with all its buildings upon 

 it, or it may be divided into two or more 

 farms each to be worked separately, but 

 it may not be incorporated into another 

 to form one large farm. Then, too, the 

 State has established a fund to advance 

 money under very easy terms to suitable 

 peasants to enable them to purchase 

 holdings for themselves. The peasant 

 must have saved a certain sum of money 

 (in some cases about 10 per cent, of the 

 purchase money of the holding— which 

 varies between £170 and £300, including 

 stock— is considered sufficient), and the 

 State advances the rest at 3 percent, 

 interest, and with great facilities in 

 the matter of repayment, retaining a 

 mortgage on the land- Thanks to bene- 

 ficial legislation, a great portion of the 

 agricultural population in Denmark own 

 the land they work. There are about 

 2 117 large estates, 75,320 peasant farms 

 of from 20 to 150 acres, and 68,000 small 

 holdings varying from 3 to 7 acres. 



Prosperity of Peasant Farmers and 

 Small Holder*— The peasant farmers 

 and small holders are very prosperous ; 

 the latter are paying off the . mortgages 

 on their holdings, and it is round that 

 the previous movement of the rural 

 population to the towns has been in a 

 large measure arrested. In this connec- 

 tion it may, too, be mentioned that 

 since the State has offered pecuniary 



