Land Reforms and the Liberalization of the Danish Agricultural Act

Legislation in the 1920s to protect small farmers and limit landholdings ultimately gave way in the latter part of the century to market-based reforms, a trajectory which continued for the next fifty years with broad popular support. A century after the original Act, nearly every aspect of it has been repealed. This chapter analyzes the effects of these reforms on landholdings in Denmark, which point to a general consolidation, encompassing a decline in the number of agricultural holdings, growth in the size of individual holdings, greater concentration of agricultural production in fewer companies, mounting inequality in agricultural wealth, and a definite movement toward corporate ownership and management of land.