Here at Stenlien we grow barley for malt,
for beer production and then wheat for bread.
And then we grow grass seed which is used for football grounds
and gardens and most of the grass
produced is exported out of Denmark.
Two of the biggest challenges to Danish
agriculture are the prices of our products
and the fact that we have fewer chemicals,
or fewer pesticides available
than our competitors in the other EU countries.
Here at Stenlien which is a conventional farm
we use pesticides to protect our crops,
but we always use as little as possible
and as much as necessary.
I believe that the pesticides are
an important tool when growing crops.
If I didn’t have any pesticides to use on the farm,
it would require a major restructuring
and there would be many crops we would not be able to grow.
A large part of the soil we cultivate is water
catchment areas where the water is pumped
and used as drinking water in Copenhagen
as well as here in our local town,
and there is monitoring in place for that.
Nature’s an important part of everyday life to me as a farmer.
Being farmers, we have no interest
at all in destroying the environment.
Our only interest is in protecting it.
I believe it’s important that the Danish farmers come forward
and tell their story about what’s really happening at the farms.
