Article written by Caspar Jørgensen

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Even though Denmark is known as an agricultural nation, industry has played a major role in the development of the welfare state. Around 1840, factories began to appear in earnest, and soon more were working industrial jobs than in agriculture. And between 1930 and 1970, the industrial sector was the largest employer. The same period also saw factories relocate from cities to the suburbs, leaving room for the retail and service sectors to emerge.

Denmark is all but synonymous with bacon in most other countries. For the past two centuries, Denmark has been one of Europe’s most productive agricultural countries, and an exporter of large quantities of food – most notably bacon and butter. Industrial producers, on the other hand, needed to import most of their raw materials. And until the early 1960s, most industrially produced goods were sold on the domestic market. Danes as well as foreigners still consider Denmark an agricultural country, even though diesel motors built by Burmeister & Wain churn away in ships from around the world, and FLSmidth rotary kilns can be found in cement plants in even the farthest corner of the world.

Fields as far as the eye can see
Outside the country’s towns and cities, farming dominates the landscape. Some 60 percent of the country is agricultural land. Industry takes up less space, even if the factories are easier to spot along railways and…

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