DFA Secretariat Manager – Tom Axelgaard looks back on the year that passed in the network and looks forward to meeting old and new members at the 2025 winter conference in Vienna.
Read Tom Axelgaard´s Christmas Greetings here.

On behalf of its member companies, DFA has issued an invitation to agricultural, horticultural and veterinary students about internship opportunities at one of the DFA member companies. The offer has been sent to all agricultural colleges in Denmark, as well as to the Business Academy in Aarhus
See the invitation here.

In our job bank on the DFA website we will post CVs for students. who want to do an internship abroad at an agricultural company. See more here.

DFA enjoys great attention on social medias. The number of followers on both Facebook and LinkedIn is increasing day by day. There is particularly great interest in our new Interview Spots, where owners, business managers and employees from the DFA member companies briefly talk about their connection to and experiences with DFA.

We would like to do more of these types of interviews, so please contact the DFA Secretariat if you would like to make a small contribution to this popular activity with a quick interview.
Send a mail to: tom@axelgaard.org

Follow DFA Facebook here.

See the exciting program for the conference in Vienna from Thursday 23 to Friday 24 January. As something new, we have designed a program that is meant also to attract the younger generation of new managers and middle managers at DFA member companies. So, bring your top employees and/or co-owners to Vienna and get inspiration on how to develop your company to meet the demands of the future.
See the program here.

Registration to the DFA secretariat by email: tom@axelgaard.com - no later than 1 January 2025.

In September, 7 pig managers began the FPM course – a leadership development course for middle managers on larger farms in Eastern Europe. It was the first of four seminars, that will last until September next year. There are participants from Ukraine, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Lithuania. Sofie Hammerskov is the new course manager for the FPM.

See a photo collage from the first meeting here.

Almost 30 participants on DFA's annual study trip got an inspiring, but also thought-provoking impression of the three Baltic countries during the study trip from October 28 to November 3. The trip started in Estonia and went via Latvia to Lithuania. Along the way, the group visited Danish farmers' activities in the countries, and received detailed information about the three countries and their investment climate in the Agriculture and Food sector. The trip included business meetings with Denmark's three ambassadors and other invited business people from the three countries.
See the full summary (in Danish) of the trip here.

There have been meetings in almost all DFA EEG (Experience Exchange Groups) groups since August. Below we have a short summary of the group meetings – for some you can also find a more detailed resume in the link.
Contact the DFA secretariat if you have managers who could benefit from being part of an EEG group.

9 managers from Ukraine, Romania, Moldova, Slovakia met in Romania at the end of September with Premium Porc as host. The group includes mid-level managers with overall functions and has Morten Sørensen, Director Agroeast as coordinator.
See his summary from two exciting days in Romania.

In 2023, DFA launched two new EEG groups with a focus on leadership and strategy meeting twice a year. The group for directors met for the second time this year – this time in Billund in October and the group for production directors also met for the second time – this time in Romania in September. Thomas Asmussen, Genesi is the coordinator for both groups.

Contact the DFA secretariat if you are interested in joining a group with leadership and strategy as the main focus.

DFA's oldest EEG group, the DFA Benchmarking Group, met from September 30 to October 2 in Poland having Goodvalley as host. The group got a good impression of Goodvalley's pig production, its biogas plants and its slaughterhouse. Furthermore, a review of the participants' production and financial key figures during their traditional benchmarking session. Johannes V Hansen is the coordinator for the group.

See the coordinator's summary of the meeting here.

DFA HR group with HR managers and specialists from agricultural companies had their annual meeting in October in Bucharest. And with Premium Porc as host and organizer.
At the meeting, the group focused on recruiting and integrating labor from non-EU countries and the related cultural issues. Furthermore, on how AI can be of help in the administrative functions of companies.

See coordinator Sofie Hammerskov's summary from the meeting here.

The newly established group of 6 middle managers in pig production had its first physical meeting in Slovakia in October, hosted by Polnovakia Agrar. The group visited several of the company's production facilities and ended with reviewing the participants production key figures. Jes Clausen, Hamlet Protein is the coordinator of the group.

Read his full summary of the meeting here.

One of DFA's older groups with managers in overall functions visited Slovakia in October, hosted by Polnovakia Agrar. The group has a tradition of having a cultural activity at the end of the meeting in addition to focusing on production and benchmarking. They ended the meeting with a visit to Bratislava. Martin Thorsen, Agrosip is the coordinator of the group.

Read his summary of the meeting here.

DFA Crop EEG group is one of the newer groups, which had its third meeting in November – this time in Romania, hosted by First Farms Agro East and Agro Cocora. The group's 20 members are mid-level crop managers on farms in Ukraine, Romania, Slovakia and Poland. Crop production consultant Ole Schou, VKST is the coordinator of the group.
Read his detailed summary of the meeting here.

Another successful DFA EEG Group meeting at the end of November. The Development group visited two large and efficient Spanish integrator producers of both chickens and pigs in combination with a large feed production. The group's purpose with the trip was to get behind the fact, that in just a few years, Spain has become the leader in the EU in both production and export of pork meat. Furthermore, they have been able to consistently maintain a very high price level for pork meat throughout the production system. The group's coordinator is Tom Axelgaard.

Read his summary of the group's visit to Galicia here.

EEG Group 4 including managers in pig production met in Austria in December. The group presentations on how flaxseed added to pig feed can improve the omega 3 fatty acid content in meat and contribute to a healthier animal and thus higher performance. The group also visited a commercial feed factory and gained insight into the Austrian pig sector and feed industry. Finally, the group visited the Hardegg estate, a very interesting agricultural enterprise producing pigs, wine, honey, rapeseed oil, flour and 11 different crops with great respect for nature.

Henrik Nielsen, Dan Bred is the coordinator of the group.

We have received current news about field crops from Ukraine and Poland. See the reports from Goodvalley Ukraine and from Goodvalley Poland here.

Overview of planned activities in first half year of 2025.

See actual jobs and apply for internship here.

We are a small project group that, together with a farmers' organization in the Kambia District, south of Sierra Leone's border with Guinea, is developing an initiative for the development of agriculture. The project group includes two initiators with roots in Sierra Leone and two Danish seniors with experience with agriculture and development projects.
See more about the project here.

Contact Ole Larsen, mobil: +45 61668302 or mail: olelarsenagro@gmail.com

Overview of actual Company members in DFA.