Kampp, Aa. H.: A permanent agro-geographical division of Denmark?
Geografisk Tidsskrift 84: 86-89, Copenhagen March 1984.

The yield of Danish crops has been rising through the years towards
the west as well as towards the east. The geographical implications
of the differences of soil quality have not changed.

Aa. H. Kampp, dr. phil., Caeciliavej 50, 2500 Valby, Denmark.

Keywords: Agricultural geography, Denmark, barley, wheat, isodense

The agro-geographical divison of Denmark into seven soil fertility regions was presented in Geografisk Tidsskrift 1944 (1); in 1976 (2) after the administrative reorganisation of 1970 a simplification from the seven regions into three was proposed. The agro-geographical difference between East- and West-Denmark has turned out to be very stable in spite of prophecies of increasing homogeneity (3). By means of better strains of cultivated plants, increasing use of fertilizers and the growing control of weeds, plant diseases, and vermins by means of herbicides and pesticides agriculture has been made as effective as possible towards the east as well as towards the west.

It has been supposed that during the Middle Ages it was only possible to get round 8 hkg (hecto-kilogrammes) of grain per hectare, about the year 1900 it was round 17 hkg. From 1920 the yield has still been growing because of the increasing use of fertilizers; in 1979 the average yield of grain for the country as a whole was 42 hkg. A decisive condition has been the short distance between research and practice, the connecting link being an effective agricultural adviser-service in this country (4).

Even if a change of the agricultural structure has caused that there is now a greater amount of husbandry towards the west to produce manure, it has been compensated in the east by the increasing use of fertilizers. The yield has been growing in all Danish land, and if the amount of fertilizers in the future will be reduced on account of environmental considerations the soil will perhaps by and by approach its original fertility.

K.-E. Frandsen writes in his dissertation (5): »Af undersøgelsensmere
genereile resultater skal... peges på, at
den inddeling af Danmark, som Aa. H. Kampp har foretagetpå

riedoutbased on parish statistics, shows many features in common with fig 51 (here fig. 1, Danish field systems 1682-1683). The division into an east- and west-oriented type is thus not only a contemporary phenomenon but was well-developed already in the 1600's).

Barley was in 1980 rather evenly distributed all over Denmark and amounted to 59 per cent of thetotal agricultural area (fig. 2), but it is doubtful how many years this great area will be possible. Cultivated land is usually a one-sided plant community; in one hectare of barley there are about three millions of barley plants, normally of the same strain, which gives the possibility of a rapid reproduction and spreading of pathogenes. About one and a half millions of hectares in Denmark are sown with barley, and at least 80 per cent with the most popular strains, and accordingly for instance Mildew, Yellow Rust or Brown Rust may be spread with the wind from field to field and from province to province (6). After a prohibition of growing winter barley it is since 1979 again allowed if it has been treated against Mildew disease, and now this crop is again in progress.

The wheat, on the other hand, has become more and more eastoriented (fig. 3 (10)), and the isodense map from 1980 (fig. 4) (areas of wheat plus barley as a percentage of the ploughed area) shows the same geographical distribution of the soil quality as the corresponding maps from 1907, 1937-39, 1946, 1951, 1962, and 1971. The agrogeographical difference between East- and West-Denmark has appeared stable during centuries, manifesting itself in the 1600's in the different types of field systems, as well as in the distribution of village churches in the 13th century. The isodense deviations (fig. 5) are not more numerous than those of former years (1, 2).

It has not been possible to work out an isodone map (map showing the yield per hectare of the most important crops) for 1980, but most probably it would not differ very much from the one of 1971 (2); and from the research made by Aa. Walter Jørgensen (fig. 6 (9)) it is evident that the geographical divergences of the barley yield are not diminishing but even seem to grow. It is still possible to illustrate in a map the agricultural dependence on the soil conditions (fig. 7).

The classical model made by von Thünen (8) showing the intensive productions near the towns has been replacedby a pattern where the labour-demanding productions,say milk produce, is disappearing from those districts,while more extensive productions as grassgrowing to an increasing extent are found in holdings near towns. It might be expected that the higher prices of farmland here would impel to intensivate the production with the purpose to obtain the greatest possible yield per hectare. That the development is going in the opposite direction is due to the specific production conditions in the townnear territories, where especially must be pointed out a high

level of expence, uncertainty of investment, and problems
concerning the responsibility for protecting the environmentfor
future generations (9).

The specialization has also been distributed geographically according to the possibilities of the various territories. The most characteristic feature is that the specialized cattle-farms continuously have been spreading towards the west. This is connected with as well the many grazing areas in the western and northern Jylland as that it is far more difficult for landowners in these districts to get supplementary paid work than for farmers who live nearer the industrial towns of East Jylland and the Isles. On the contrary most of the farms without any husbandry are to be found towards the east where the soil is better fitted for plant growing and where city activities may secure employment to many hands.

RESUMÉ En permanent landbrugsgeografisk inddeling?

Byg er i dag den vigtigste kornart i landet og udgør 59% af det samlede landbrugsareal. Efter en årrækkes forbud er det fra 1979 igen tilladt at dyrke vinterbyg mod, at den behandles mod meldug, og denne afgrøde er atter i fremgang.

Hveden derimod bliver mere og mere østorienteret, og den landbrugsgeograflske forskel mellem Øst- og Vestdanmark har vist sig stabil gennem århundreder, idet den manifesterede sig f.eks. i 1600-årene i udbredelsen af de forskellige dyrkningssystemer (fig. 1); den synes endog at øges en smule (fig. 6). Isodenskortet fra 1980 (kort over hvede + byg i procent af det samlede omdriftsareal) viser påfaldende lighedspunkter med tilsvarende kort fra 1907, 1937-39, 1946, 1951, 1962 og 1971.

REFERENCES

1. Kampp, Aa. H. (1944-45): En metode til inddeling i landbrugsgeografiske
områder. A division of Denmark into Agricultural
Districts. Geografisk Tidsskrift 47, p. 183-203.

2. Kampp, Aa. H. (1976): A simplified agro-geographical division
of Denmark. Geografisk Tidsskrift 75, p. 45-50.

3. Norborg, Knut (1959): Landbrugsgeografiske studier over Danmark.
Svensk Geografisk Årsbok, 35, p. 219-220.

4. Rosenstand, Arne (1982): Om økologisk jordbrug på sandjord.
Natur og Miljø, 3, p. 4-12.

5. Frandsen, K.-E. (1983): Vang og Tægt. Esbjerg.

6. Jørgensen, Helms (1982): Det genetiske grundlag for resistens
mod plantesygdomme. Naturens Verden, 7, p. 209-217.

7. Henriksen, Aage (1982): Planteproduktion, planteernæring og

levnedsmiddelforsyning. Naturens Verden 1. p. 23-34.
8. v. Thünen (1826): Der isolierte Staat. Hamburg.

9. Walter Jørgensen, Aage (1979): Konkurrencen om jorden og
jordbrugets eksistensmuligheder. Tidsskrift for landøkonomi,
4, p. 271-284.

10. Kampp, Aa. H. (1984): Prikkort over dansk landbrug. Brenderup.