DFA has initiated cooperation with Raspberry Communications – a Romanian agency helping with an intensified profiling of the association and member activities. The goal is also to get more "traffic" on the DFA website - and in that way get more members.
So, look closely at DFA on the various SoMe platforms.
Find the association's Facebook here.


DFA-offer for Company members
As something new, DFA offers its company members to set up smaller stands or display brochures at the upcoming DFA Winter Conference on 26 January at Bygholm Agricultural School. This event can be a great opportunity for the company to present new epoch-making products and have a targeted conversation with representatives from the various agricultural members.

The offer also includes promotion of new products from companies via the DFA newsletter and Facebook.

Contact the DFA secretariat to find out more about the offer. Tom Axelgaard, mail: tom@axelgaard.org

As something new, we are in the process of establishing two leadership development groups – one for directors and one for production directors. In short, the groups will act as experience groups that meet twice a year and primarily focus on strategy- and management development. See more here about the concepts to the groups.

The group of directors has its first meeting in March 2024 and it is facilitated by Thomas Asmussen, Genesi. The production director group has its first meeting in December and is facilitated by Sofie Hammerskov, Developing Businesses.

Contact the secretariat if you are interested in hearing more about the leadership development groups, as there are still a few vacancies. Tom Axelgaard, mail: tom@axelgaard.org

DFA has initiated a collaboration with Dalum Agricultural College on vocational training for newly employed employees, whom the farms would like to offer additional skills development to prepare them for a team- or department manager function. Several farms have already expressed an interest in taking advantage of the opportunity to let selected employees participate in the first virtual module. Our intensions are that these employees will continue with further training and obtain a formal training certificate.

See a description of the offer here and contact the secretariat for further information. Tom Axelgaard, mail: tom@axelgaard.org

The 2-day kick-off Lean Seminar on 21 - 22 November 2023 in DK goes in depth with Lean thinking, Lean principles and Lean tools - and how to implement it. See the program for the seminar here.

There is huge interest for the seminar, so hurry up and register if you want to participate. Tom Axelgaard, mail: tom@axelgaard.org

There are 32 registered and thus fully booked for this year's DFA Study Trip to Japan from 28 October to 5 November.
See the program for the study tour here.

The DFA CA Network was established in the spring of 2023 with the aim of giving crop managers inspiration on how to change field management in a more sustainable direction, which is also more resistant to drought. And that goal was fully realized at the group's first meeting in Romania in June, hosted by Agro Cocora. See the report for this meeting here.

Contact coordinator Frederik V Larsen, Agrovi – mail: fvl@agrovi.dk if you want to hear more about the group's focus and register a participant for the group's next meeting on November 8 - 9 in Slovakia in collaboration with Dan-Slovakia.

Reorganization of ERFA-groups within Pig production
We are looking for team managers and department managers in pig production, who would like to be part of a DFA-ERFA group, which meets twice a year in rotation at the participants working place and get good inspiration from colleagues.
Find more about the DFA-ERFA Group concept here.

We already have 4 groups within pig production and with a few more registered, we can establish a 5th group targeted at managers at team- and department level.
Contact the secretariat for further information. Tom Axelgaard, mail: tom@axelgaard.org

New course for middle managers in pig production
We are looking for interested pig managers for an upcoming FPM course with an expected start in early 2024.
See more information about the course on the DFA website here or contact the DFA-secretariat. Tom Axelgaard, mail: tom@axelgaard.org

A newly established group aimed at midlevel crop managers has its first meeting on November 20 - 22 in Slovakia, hosted by Dan-Slovakia. The group is led by crop production consultant Ole Schou from VKST in Denmark.
The first meeting focuses on the management of Machinery capacity in addition to the inspection of crops and field operations at Dan-Slovakia.

Contact the secretariat for further information about the group. Tom Axelgaard, mail: tom@axelgaard.org

There is still room for more Feed Mill managers in addition to the 20, who have already registered for the seminar on November 8 - 10 in Budapest.
The program focuses on eg. toxins in the feed, as well as ASF infection by the same route. – see detailed program here.

Contact the secretariat for more information about the program and registration. Tom Axelgaard, mail: tom@axelgaard.org

DFA ERFA Group 4 meet in Lithuania in November
ERFA group 4 consists of senior managers in pig production and has Henrik Nielsen as facilitator. The group's meeting includes a visit at Idavang farm in Lithuania and topics on biosecurity including contribution from Bjarne Vest. The meeting lasts from 17 – 18 November.

DFA HR managers meet 23 - 24 November
When the DFA HR group meets in November in Copenhagen, it relies on a lot of exchange of experience in the areas of human resources, organization and culture. Furthermore, we will visit the Agriculture & Food organization at Axelborg and hear their way of thinking about HR and working with HR - both in the organization and in agriculture in general. Finally, a visit to the HR department in Copenhagen's Tivoli, where we will hear about the onboarding of employees, and designing easy-to-understand working procedures in everyday life.

We may well find room for a few more HR managers in addition to those from First Farms, Goodvalley, Dan-Slovakia, Idavang, Polnovakia Agrar, and Premium Porc. The group's coordinator and facilitator is Sofie Hammerskov.
Contact DFA secretariat. Tom Axelgaard. Mail: tom@axelgaard.org

DFA will hold its annual General Meeting and subsequent Winter Conference on 26 January at Bygholm Agricultural College near Horsens. The conference program will include topics on climate- and sustainable transformation of agricultural operations, ESG reporting and how to improve financing for green initiatives.

The program for the conference will be forwarded at the end of November, but mark your calendars already now.

DFA Activity plan – October 2023 – primo 2024
See an overview of the entire DFA-activities here.

An engaged Jorn Oude Lansik from MS Schippers talked about biosecurity at the company's Dutch pig farm, Hyfarm. The webinar included a video in which Jorn walks around outside as well as inside the stables and shows the different ways to limit the risk of unwanted infection entering the stables and spreading it around between the individual sections.
Many initiatives were carried out with great details – eg. that each section has its own floor color and that a change of boots is ready before entering a new section.

Watch the thought-provoking video at YouTube here.

Medio September a group of veterinarians and farm managers from some of the largest pig production enterprises in Europe met in Denmark

Read more about the Vet-Seminar here.

Nine satisfied Pig Production Managers received their Certificate of Attendance as a proof of completing the 15-days MSP course at the final seminar 4 in September.
Read more about the MSP course's final seminar here.

DFA Development Group – summary meeting in September
DFA Erfa group 7 (Development group) had a particularly exciting visit 18 – 20 September in Romania, including visit at Agro Cocora and Premium Pork Group.
Read more here.

The truth is the first victim in a war and for all of us it is incredibly difficult to find out where the war is headed in Ukraine's counter-offensive, as well as the situation around grain exports etc. etc.
Hans Petter Midttun has a background in the Norwegian military and has, among other things, been Military Attaché at the Norwegian Embassy in Kiev for more than 4 years. He follows the war very closely, has a number of good sources for information, and makes daily reports for eg. Euromaidan Press.

Read here his assessment of both the current situation and the perspectives for the nearest future.

Harvest Results from DFA-members in Eastern Europe and Ukraine
Find reports from Dan-Slovakia, Halychyna Zahid and Jasna-Pol here.

The EU Commission lowered forecast of Wheat and Corn in the EU
Analysts of the European Commission in the September report lowered the forecast of wheat and corn production in the EU,
Read the abstract of the report from Ukr. Consult, 2 October 2023 here.

Four Agricultural Companies are hiring managers. Find the job descriptions at DFA website

DanRoot is hiring Production manager
Premium Pork Group is hiring Manure Handling Coordinator
Premium Pork Group is hiring Production Manager
First Farms is hiring Crop Production Director
Agro Cocora is hiring Crop Production Manager

SEGES seeks Feedback on Bench Marking tool
At SEGES Innovation, we offer a wide range of IT tools for Danish farmers. However, we believe that parts of our know-how can also be valuable for foreign cattle farmers - including our new Livestockbenchmark.com

In this connection, we would very much like your feedback for the benchmarking tool below. You will find it here.
(so far desktop only - not mobile) Feel free to click on the blue link at the top right to give feedback.

The Havana International Fair 6 – 11 November 2023
The Organizing Committee of the Havana International Fair, FIHAV, is pleased to invite you to participate in its XXXIX edition, which will be held from November 6 to 11, 2023, at the EXPOCUBA fairgrounds.

Read the invitation and program here.

Find here an overview of the entire list of Companies who are members of DFA.