By the late 1880s it is well known that Denmark was already a leading agricultural exporter. But how did Denmark manage to transform herself so very quickly? We argue that she did not. We provide quantitative and qualitative evidence that animal products made up an increasing share of Danish exports ...
(Show more)By the late 1880s it is well known that Denmark was already a leading agricultural exporter. But how did Denmark manage to transform herself so very quickly? We argue that she did not. We provide quantitative and qualitative evidence that animal products made up an increasing share of Danish exports to England from an early date, so that by 1875 they were already the most important export product. This was the result of a long-run process of first diversification and then reorientation of Danish agriculture, starting on certain estates that emulated Holstein dairy practice from the 1830s. We combine quantitative information such as trade data with an analysis of contemporary publications from German, Danish and British sources to trace the simultaneous process of the establishment of export dairies, the construction of new trade networks and steamship connections to England for direct export, and the discovery of the quality of Danish estate butter by British merchants and consumers. We observe that from the 1850s this model trickled down from the pioneering group of large estate owners, via packing firms and private creameries to medium landowners, and ultimately to the common farmer (or peasant) through the cooperative movement. The importance of Denmark for Britain’s industrial masses only became apparent after 1875. The importance of dairying for Danish agriculture, which made this supply possible, has a rather longer story.
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