The pig production unit of Denmark’s farming body – the Danish Agriculture and Food Council – has become the majority owner of a DanAvl company with ambitions to radically boost exports of pig genes and pork breeding stock internationally.
Minority shareholders in the new company are DanBred International – a swine genetics company, and SPF Denmark – one of the country’s most prominent pork transportation businesses.
DanAvl is managed by the Pig Research Centre – more commonly known as Seges – and it exports approximately 400,000 breed stock animals and around two million units of pig semen every year, according to DanAvl.
'Something special'
Work on establishing the structure of the new company is yet to be completed, but Eric Larsen, chairman of the Agriculture and Food Council Pig Production arm, hailed the move as “something special”.
He said Denmark is a leader in developing good genetics in pig production and believed this was down to “decades of organising breeding work and the strong unity between Danish pig producers who are behind the development of genetics” in the country.
“With this new collaboration, we will reinforce and further develop our position in the global markets for pig genetics. The goal is that, over the next five or six years, we will double our exports and expand markets worldwide.
“Over the years, we have found we have not been able to exploit the market potential well enough. The cause is an outdated business model and that is what we are looking to rectify with this new collaboration. The new model supports a clear and future-oriented structure, for which we have great expectations,” he added.
Larsen hopes the new collaboration will also add “value for customers, partners, suppliers and owners – including the Danish pig sector as a whole”.