There are fewer farms in Denmark, but the farms that are here are getting bigger.

According to the latest figures from Statistics Denmark, one in five Danish farms – some 8,000 – had at least 100 hectares of grain, rapeseed, hay or other crops last year compared with one in twenty farms with at least 100 hectares 20 years ago.

Denmark had a total of 40,700 farms in 2011, a 3.4 per cent drop on 2010. This compares with 77,000 farms 20 years ago.

Although farms are getting bigger, Denmark still has many small and medium-sized ones – some 22,300 farms have less than 30 hectares.

The figures also look at water use and irrigation across Denmark, finding that Jutland farms and nurseries tend to water their crops more than in eastern and central parts of the country.

Some 13 per cent of farms in Denmark watered their crops last year – three per cent of eastern Denmark farmers watered, five per cent of Funen farmers watered, while the figure for Jutland farmers was 18 per cent.

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