Denmark Can Grow Vegetables and Clean Water

Femi Ajakaye

July 25, 2026
3:03 pm

Danish researchers say the country can boost vegetable production and clean up its polluted waters at the same time, but only if Denmark invests heavily in new farming systems and stops treating environmental protection as a threat to agriculture.

Denmark grows less than a quarter of its own vegetables. The rest rolls in on trucks from Spain, Holland, and Poland. Meanwhile, 98 percent of Danish waterways are classified as polluted or threatened, choked by nitrogen runoff from fields. The government’s new plan promises 5.7 billion kroner to improve water quality, but leading scientists say the plan falls short. And the public debate keeps framing it as a trade-off: either Danish vegetables or clean fjords. Pick one.

That framing is wrong, according to Aarhus University professor Hanne Lakkenborg Kristensen. She argues that with smarter farming, Denmark could have both.

Why Danish Vegetables Keep Disappearing

Danish fruit and vegetable production has dropped by a fifth in ten years. Today, Denmark produces just 26 percent of the vegetables and nine percent of the fruit sold here. Sixty years ago, those figures were 92 and 54 percent. The decline has sparked arguments about supermarket pricing, cheap imports, and unfair competition.

But Kristensen says the real issue is that Denmark hasn’t invested enough in making vegetable farming sustainable and competitive. “We talk about saving Danish production,” she says. “But we talk far too little about how research can make it more sustainable and more attractive.”

The Nitrogen Problem Gets Worse

New nitrogen regulations take effect in 2027 to protect Danish water. They worry producers of crops like cabbage, which tend to leave more nitrogen in the soil than grain farming. Danish waterways are in terrible shape. Nearly all of them fail EU standards for ecological health. Researchers document widespread oxygen depletion, disappearing eelgrass, and collapsing bottom-dwelling animal populations.

The Danish Society for Nature Conservation argues Denmark must take 15 to 30 percent of farmland out of production to cut nitrogen pollution enough to meet EU rules. That would mean removing the equivalent of more than 10,000 football fields every month until the end of 2027. Greenpeace Denmark says the past decade has been wasted because political decisions weakened regulation instead of strengthening it.

Government Wants More Time

The government has asked Brussels for permission to delay some environmental deadlines. Ministers say their plan balances water quality with the economy. Critics say it’s a stalling tactic that puts agriculture ahead of the law. Leading water researchers told DR that the government’s reduction targets are not enough to achieve good water quality in Denmark’s most polluted fjords.

Research Shows a Different Path

Kristensen and her colleagues at Aarhus University have been testing alternative farming systems in field trials. They’re looking at multi-cropping, cover crops, healthy rotations, precision fertilization, nutrient recycling, and gentler soil management. Early results suggest these methods can reduce nitrate leaching, maintain high yields, and improve soil fertility at the same time.

She says the solutions will vary by crop and soil type. “A cabbage field on sandy soil doesn’t necessarily need the same new methods as onions on clay,” she explains. “That’s why we need much more research.” The key insight is that vegetables are eaten directly by humans, not fed to animals first. That makes them far more efficient per hectare than feed crops. Vegetables generally have a low climate footprint and could play a major role in transforming Danish agriculture.

Denmark Can Compete on Quality

Danish producers will never beat Poland or Spain on price alone. Wages and production costs here are simply higher. But Kristensen argues Denmark can compete on quality, transparency, and safety. The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration consistently finds fewer pesticide residues in Danish produce than in imports. Danish farms operate under strict rules on traceability, working conditions, and wages.

Researchers are now working to develop crop varieties and growing methods that deliver better taste, texture, shelf life, and higher levels of bioactive compounds. “The goal isn’t just to grow more vegetables,” Kristensen says. “We want to develop vegetables with more flavor, greater variety, and high quality.”

What This Means for Expats and Consumers

I’ve lived here long enough to watch Danish farmland become a political battleground. The water is getting worse. The vegetables are coming from farther away. And the government keeps promising solutions that scientists say won’t work. If you shop at a Danish supermarket, you’ve probably noticed the Spanish cabbage sitting next to the Danish variety in July. That shouldn’t happen.

But Kristensen’s research offers a rare bit of optimism. Denmark has the knowledge, the infrastructure, and the regulatory capacity to grow more food with less environmental damage. What’s missing is political will and serious investment in agricultural innovation. The current plan allocates billions for water cleanup but doesn’t fundamentally change how farming works. Treating vegetables like a niche product instead of a strategic food source is a mistake.

The Real Choice Ahead

Denmark doesn’t have to choose between clean water and local vegetables. But it does have to choose between doing things the way they’ve always been done and investing in systems that work differently. The field trials are there. The data is emerging. Whether Denmark acts on it before the EU loses patience is another question entirely.

For those of us who live here and care about what we eat and where it comes from, the stakes are clear. Danish vegetables grown with lower environmental impact, greater transparency, and higher quality could be a genuine selling point. But only if producers can see a market willing to pay for it, and only if politicians stop pretending environmental rules are the enemy of food production.