A tax was first proposed in February by government-commissioned experts to help Denmark reach a legally binding 2030 target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 70 per cent from 1990 levels.

The centrist government late on Monday reached a wide-ranging compromise with farmers, industry, labour unions and environmental groups on policy linked to farming, the country’s largest source of CO2 emissions.

“We will be the first country in the world to introduce a real CO2 tax on agriculture. Other countries will be inspired by this,” Taxation Minister Jeppe Bruus of the centre-left Social Democrats said in a statement on Tuesday.

While subject to approval by parliament, political experts expect a bill to pass following the broad-based consensus.

The deal proposed taxing farmers 300 Danish crowns (C$58.77) per tonne of CO2 in 2030, increasing to 750 crowns (C$146.92) by 2035.

Farmers will be entitled to an income tax deduction of 60 per cent, meaning that the actual cost per tonne will start at 120 crowns and increase to 300 crowns by 2035, while subsidies will be made available to support adjustments in farm operations.

The tax could add an extra cost of 2 crowns per kilo (2.2 pounds) of minced beef in 2030, Minister for Economic Affairs Stephanie Lose told public broadcaster DR. Minced beef retails from around 70 crowns per kilo (C$13.71) at Danish discount stores.

New Zealand this month scrapped plans to introduce a similar tax after facing criticism from farmers.

But while Danish farmers had expressed concerns that the country’s climate goals could force them to lower production and cut jobs, they said the compromise makes it possible to maintain their business.

“The agreement brings clarity when it comes to significant parts of the farmers’ conditions,” the L&F agriculture industry group said.

—Additional reporting by Alison Withers and Stine Jacobsen

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Denmark, a major dairy exporter, could become the first country in the world to price agricultural emissions, including methane emissions from burping cows, a move that has broad political backing.

Methane, a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, is a natural byproduct of digestion in cows and other ruminants that is released into the atmosphere.

The Nordic country has pledged to reduce emissions by 70 per cent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.

More than half of Denmark’s land is farmed, with agriculture accounting for about a third of the country’s carbon emissions, according to Danish climate think tank Concito.

Farming has not yet been subject to any climate regulations, but the industry has expressed concerns that a carbon tax would force them to reduce production and close farms.

Instead, farmers and the dairy industry have advocated the use of additives that stop the fermentation process inside the cows’ stomach, preventing the production of methane.

The government set aside 518 million Danish crowns (C$101.9 million) to finance the feed additive, which is expected to reduce methane emissions from the country’s roughly 550,000 dairy cows by 30 per cent in 2030.

Such additives have been met with skepticism from Danish politicians and animal welfare groups, as it is still unclear whether it would meet Danish animal welfare standards.

Netherlands-based nutrition company Royal DSM had a feed additive approved by the EU in 2022.

This type of feed additive, sometimes called by trade name Bovaer, was approved for use in Canada early this year to general approval from beef and dairy groups.

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Denmark, a major pork and dairy exporter, could become the first country in the world to levy an emissions tax on farming, a move that has broad political backing in the country, after New Zealand last year pushed back such a tax to the end of 2025.

A carbon tax on farmers could help Denmark achieve its legally-binding 2030 target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 70 per cent from 1990 levels.

But such a measure would also mean higher costs for farmers and as a consequence reduce production by as much as one-fifth, a government-commissioned group said in a report on Wednesday.

A tax of 750 Danish crowns (C$147) per million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted would have the biggest impact. The group also considered lower taxes of 375 crowns and 125 crowns.

“These models are based on something very disappointing, namely that climate reduction can only come by reducing production,” Peder Tuborgh, CEO of dairy producer Arla Foods, told Reuters.

Tuborgh said new technologies had helped Arla’s 9,000 farmers in Denmark, Sweden, England, Germany and Benelux reduce emissions by 1 million tons in the last two years.

“There is an innovation path,” he said. “We would like to continue that journey, rather than having to shut down our production.”

More than half of Denmark’s land is farmed, with agriculture accounting for about a third of the country’s carbon emissions, according to Danish climate think tank Concito.

The agriculture sector has become a political battleground as the European Union strives to meet its net zero emissions target by 2050. Farmers across the bloc have been protesting for weeks, saying they are facing rising costs and taxes, red tape, and excessive environmental rules.

The scenarios laid out by the government advisors would reduce agricultural production by between six per cent and 15 per cent, with cattle and pig production falling by around 20 per cent under the harshest taxation scenario.

“It will be relatively dramatic if we chose to go down that path,” Jais Valeur, CEO of Europe’s biggest pork producer Danish Crown, told TV2.

“It’s key that we encourage our best farmers to become better so that we can lead the way for a sustainable transition,” he said.

–Reporting for Reuters by Isabelle Yr Carlsson, Louise Rasmussen and Stine Jacobsen.

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“The acquisition we are doing today is very important for the future growth of Royal Unibrew in the Americas region,” Royal Unibrew CEO Lars Jensen said in a statement.

“We are adding capacity in Canada, which is also close to our U.S. business and over time we expect to serve most of Canada and partly United States from Amsterdam Brewery,” Jensen added.

The vast majority of Royal Unibrew’s revenue is generated in Europe. In 2021, around 11 per cent of the company’s net revenue came from its international segment, which includes the Americas, according to its annual report.

Royal Unibrew, whose own brands include Royal, Lapin Kulta and Faxe, noted Amsterdam maintains a “solid position in on-trade in Toronto” through its two retail stores and two brewpub restaurants in that city.

Amsterdam was founded in 1986 as a Dutch-themed Toronto brewpub and expanded following its 2002 acquisition by Jeff Carefoote, who previously worked for major brewers Molson and Miller in Canada and the U.S.

The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of this year, paid on a debt-free basis, Royal Unibrew said. It expects the deal to be earnings-per-share accretive within the first year of ownership.

— Reporting for Reuters by Nikolaj Skydsgaard; includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

CORRECTION, July 18, 2022: Royal Unibrew on July 17 published a statement of correction, lowering the acquisition value. The initial announcement on July 15 had valued Amsterdam Brewery at about 300 million Danish crowns (C$52.8 million).

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Denmark’s entire herd of some 17 million mink, one of the world’s biggest and highly valued for the quality of its fur, was ordered to be culled in early November after hundreds of farms suffered outbreaks of the COVID-19 coronavirus and authorities found mutated strains of the virus among people.

Lawmakers on Monday agreed a deal that includes compensation to the farmers for idle machinery and lost revenue until 2030, the country’s finance ministry said in a statement.

Denmark was the top exporter of mink to luxury fashion labels, with its pelts in high demand due to high breeding standards.

The move to cull Denmark’s entire mink population left the government reeling, and prompted its agriculture minister to step down after it admitted it did not have the legal basis to order the culling of healthy mink.

Monday’s deal also allows farmers to begin breeding mink when a temporary ban ends next year.

In Canada, two mink farms in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley were placed under quarantine last month after animals at both properties, and workers at one of the properties, were confirmed to have COVID-19, believed to be the first such cases in Canadian farmed mink.

Testing at the site of the first outbreak showed the infected people and animals had an “identical or nearly identical strain” which has already been circulating in people in the province, “indicating COVID-19 spread from people to animals and not the other way around.”

As for the second farm, the provincial ag ministry said Dec. 24 that it’s “not currently known how the mink contracted the virus and the ministry is currently working with stakeholders to identify potential sources.”

Canada’s mink farms — fewer than 100 across the country, mainly in Ontario and Nova Scotia — reportedly began tightening their biosecurity in 2020 after COVID-19 cases began to appear in farmed mink, first in the Netherlands in April, then in Italy, Spain, Sweden and the U.S. as well as Denmark.

— Reporting for Reuters by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen. Includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

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Denmark ordered all farmed mink to be culled early this month after finding that 12 people had been infected by a mutated strain of the virus that causes COVID-19, which passed from humans to mink and back to humans.

The decision led to 17 million animals being destroyed and to the resignation last week of Food and Agriculture Minister Morgens Jensen, after it was determined that the order was illegal.

Dead mink were tipped into trenches at a military area in western Denmark and covered with two metres of soil. But hundreds have begun resurfacing, pushed out of the ground by what authorities say is gas from their decomposition. Newspapers have referred to them as the “zombie mink.”

Jensen’s replacement, Rasmus Prehn, said Friday he supported the idea of digging up the animals and incinerating them. He said he had asked the environmental protection agency look into whether it could be done, and parliament would be briefed on the issue on Monday.

The macabre burial sites, guarded 24 hours a day to keep people and animals away, have drawn complaints from area residents about possible health risks.

Authorities say there is no risk of the graves spreading the coronavirus, but locals worry about the risk of contaminating drinking water and a bathing lake less than 200 metres away.

— Reporting for Reuters by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen.

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Alan Herscovici, an industry spokesperson who operates the website Truthaboutfur.com, said early reports out of Denmark and other European countries gave Canadian producers some time to prepare.

“These farms have always had a certain level of biosecurity, but when the news came, that was enhanced,” he said.

“They’re limiting who can come on farms, even to the point of taking deliveries at the farm gate, putting off anything they can, changing clothes before going into the barns, keeping workers who aren’t feeling well out…so far the good news is that it’s working, and farmers are taking it very seriously.”

That’s mainly because it comes as no surprise to those in the industry that mink might be susceptible to COVID, he added, noting mink have long been known to catch human influenza.

He also noted the Canadian industry benefits from a relatively small size and large geographic footprint. Canada’s farms only produce about 1.5 million pelts a year, compared to world-leading Denmark’s 17 million.

Canada’s mink sector is also spread across just 40 operations, stretching from Newfoundland to British Columbia. Denmark, on the other hand, packs that production into “an area roughly the size of Vancouver Island,” Herscovici said.

Ordinarily that gives Denmark its competitive advantage. Mink are notoriously labour-intensive, particularly preparing their feed, he said. As carnivores they typically consume meat waste from other animal production that must be collected, processed and cooked before being fed.

“In Denmark they’re able to do that through co-operative kitchens, which is ordinarily to their advantage,” Herscovici said. “But now the downside is that they’re going farm-to-farm with trucks every day.”

That sort of farm-to-farm transmission was very unlikely in Canada, he said.

Herscovici also said the industry was already in the process of rationalizing overproduction, caused by a spike in fur prices in recent years. That sparked a lot of new entrants, but was oversupplying the current market.

“This could mean prices would improve, in the future,” he said, but also conceded in the short term a cull could further flood the market with pelts.

Canadian producers are well-known for quality production, he said, and the genetics of Canadian mink are especially well-regarded in the industry.

“We could find our mink are desired as breeding stock,” he said. “The goal we’ve got right now is to keep the mink healthy, and people are taking it very seriously.”

— Gord Gilmour is editor of the Manitoba Co-operator in Winnipeg.

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Global health officials are eying the animals as a potential risk for people after Denmark last week embarked on a plan to eliminate all of its 17 million mink, saying a mutated coronavirus strain could move to humans and evade future COVID-19 vaccines.

The U.S. states of Utah, Wisconsin and Michigan — where the coronavirus has killed mink — said they do not plan to cull animals and are monitoring the situation in Denmark.

“We believe that quarantining affected mink farms in addition to implementing stringent biosecurity measures will succeed in controlling SARS-CoV-2 at these locations,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture told Reuters on Tuesday.

USDA said it is working with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state officials and the mink industry to test and monitor infected farms.

The U.S. has 359,850 mink bred to produce babies, known as kits, and produced 2.7 million pelts last year. Wisconsin is the largest mink-producing state, followed by Utah.

Sick mink in Wisconsin and Utah were exposed to people with probable or confirmed COVID-19 cases, the USDA said. In Michigan it is still unknown if the mink were infected by humans, according to the agency.

In Utah, the first U.S. state to confirm mink infections in August, about 10,700 mink have died on nine farms, said Dean Taylor, state veterinarian.

“On all nine, everything is still suggesting a one-way travel from people to the minks,” he said. Coronavirus testing has been done on mink that die and randomly on the affected farms, Taylor said. Like people, some mink are asymptomatic or mildly affected, he said.

The CDC said it was supporting states’ investigations into sick mink, including testing of animals and people.

“These investigations will help us to learn more about the transmission dynamics between mink, other animals around the farms and people,” the CDC said. “Currently, there is no evidence that animals play a significant role in the spread of SARS-CoV-2 to people.”

Coronavirus is thought to have first jumped from animals to humans in China, possibly via bats or another animal at a food market in Wuhan, although many outstanding questions remain.

In Wisconsin, about 5,000 mink have died on two farms, state veterinarian Darlene Konkle said.

One farm is composting the dead mink to dispose of the carcasses without spreading the virus, Konkle said. Authorities are working with the second farm to determine how to dispose of the mink, and dead animals are being kept in a metal container in the meantime, she said.

“They are basically in a metal container, a roll-off type container, that is sealed off at this point,” Konkle said.

Michigan declined to disclose how many mink have died, citing privacy rules.

U.S. authorities are urging farmers to wear protective gear like masks and gloves when handling mink to avoid infecting the animals.

State officials said they are working with USDA to determine whether farmers can sell the pelts of infected mink. The pelts are used to make fur coats and other items.

“It’s our desire and certainly the owners’ desire to be able to use those pelts,” Konkle said.

The coronavirus has also infected cats, dogs, a lion and a tiger, according to USDA. Experts say mink appear to be the most susceptible animal so far.

“Whatever we learn about mink is going to help understand the virus across species,” Taylor said. “It’s going to give us a better response to people to stop this pandemic.”

Canada, at the end of 2018, was home to 98 mink farms, mainly in Nova Scotia and Ontario, down from 237 in 2014, according to Statistics Canada.

Canada’s mink farms as of Jan. 1, 2018 included an estimated 500,600 mink in total, down from 861,500 four years earlier, StatsCan said.

— Tom Polansek reports on agriculture and ag commodities for Reuters from Chicago; additional reporting by Carl O’Donnell in New York. Includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

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The government said on Wednesday that it would cull all minks — up to 17 million — to prevent human contagion with a mutated coronavirus, which authorities said could be more resistant against future vaccines.

Seven municipalities in northern Denmark, home to most of the country’s mink farms, will face restrictions on movement across county lines, while restaurants and bars will be closed, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told a press conference.

Schools will be closed and all public transport will be shut until Dec. 3., she said, encouraging inhabitants in the region to stay within their municipality and get tested.

For Denmark’s mink pelt industry, which racked up exports of around US$800 million last year and employs 4,000 people, the cull could amount to a death knell. The industry association for Danish breeders called the move a “black day for Denmark.”

“Of course, we must not be the cause of a new pandemic. We do not know the professional basis for this assessment and risk… but the government’s decision is a disaster for the industry and Denmark,” chairman Tage Pedersen said.

At his family-owned mink farm west of the capital Copenhagen, 34-year-old Hans Henrik Jeppesen said he was devastated by the decision.

“This is a very, very sad situation for me and my family,” he told Reuters. Jeppesen’s 36,000 minks have not been infected, but will be culled and skinned within the next 10 days.

Some lawmakers demanded to see the evidence behind such drastic action.

“We are asking to have it (the evidence) sent over, so we can assess the technical basis,” a spokesperson for the Liberal Party told broadcaster TV2 on Wednesday.

More restrictions

Outbreaks at mink farms have persisted in Denmark, Europe’s largest producer and exporter of mink furs, despite repeated efforts to cull infected animals since June.

Animal rights groups welcomed the mass cull imposed by the government, and called for a general ban on what they said was an “outdated” industry.

“Although not a ban on fur farming, this move signals the end of suffering for millions of animals confined to small wire cages on Danish fur farms,” said Joanna Swabe of Humane Society International.

In a meeting with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control held earlier on Thursday, experts agreed with Denmark’s strategy to tackle the situation, state epidemiologist Kare Molbak said.

Hans Kluge, WHO European regional director, said Denmark showed “determination and courage” in the face of a decision to cull its mink population, which has a “huge economic impact.”

While no coronavirus has been detected on mink farms in Poland, another major mink pelt producer, authorities in Sweden on Thursday imposed restrictions on mink farms after infections were found.

However, they have not observed the mutation found in neighbouring Denmark.

Canada, at the end of 2018, had 98 mink farms, mainly in Nova Scotia and Ontario, down from 237 in 2014, according to Statistics Canada.

Risk to future vaccines

In a report published Wednesday, the State Serum Institute (SSI), the Danish authority dealing with infectious diseases, said laboratory tests showed the new strain had mutations on its so-called spike protein, a part of the virus that invades and infects healthy cells.

That poses a risk to future COVID-19 vaccines, which are based on disabling the spike protein, SSI said.

Ian Jones, a virology professor at Britain’s University of Reading, said the virus would be expected to mutate in a new species.

“It must adapt to be able to use mink receptors to enter cells and so will modify the spike protein to enable this to happen efficiently,” he explained.

“The danger is that the mutated virus could then spread back into man and evade any vaccine response which would have been designed to the original, non-mutated version of the spike protein, and not the mink-adapted version.”

Authorities in Denmark said five cases of the new virus strain had been recorded on mink farms and 12 cases in humans.

James Wood, a professor of veterinary medicine at Cambridge University, cautioned that the true implication of the changes in the spike protein had not yet been fully assessed by scientists.

“It is too early to say that the change will cause either vaccines or immunity to fail,” he said.

— Reporting for Reuters by Nikolaj Skydsgaard; additional reporting by Kate Kelland in London, Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen in Copenhagen, Anthony Deutsch in Amsterdam, Johan Ahlander and Colm Fulton in Stockholm and Anna Koper in Warsaw. Includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

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Health authorities found virus strains in humans and in mink which showed decreased sensitivity against antibodies, potentially lowering the efficacy of future vaccines, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said at a press conference.

“We have a great responsibility towards our own population, but with the mutation that has now been found, we have an even greater responsibility for the rest of the world as well,” she said.

“The mutated virus in mink may pose a risk to the effectiveness of a future vaccine,” Frederiksen said, adding that it “risks being spread from Denmark to other countries.”

The findings, which have been shared with the World Health Organization and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, were based on laboratory tests by the State Serum Institute, the Danish authority dealing with infectious diseases.

The head of WHO’s emergencies programme, Mike Ryan, on Friday called for full-scale scientific investigations of the “complex, complex issue” of humans — outside China — infecting mink which in turn transmitted the virus back to humans.

Outbreaks at mink farms have persisted in the Nordic country, the world’s largest producer of mink furs, despite repeated efforts to cull infected animals since June.

The country’s police, army and home guard would be deployed in order to speed up the culling process, Frederiksen said.

Tougher lockdown restrictions and intensified tracing efforts would be implemented to contain the virus in some areas of northern Denmark, home to a large number of mink farms, authorities said.

“The worst-case scenario is a new pandemic, starting all over again out of Denmark,” director at the State Serum Institute, Kare Molbak, said. The new strain showed diminished sensitivity towards antibodies, he added.

“That’s why we have to take this extremely seriously,” Molbak said.

Minks have also been culled in the Netherlands and Spain after infections were discovered.

Authorities had registered five cases of the new strain on mink farms and 12 cases in humans.

There are between 15 million and 17 million mink in Denmark, authorities said.

Canada, at the end of 2018, had 98 mink farms, down from 237 in 2014, according to Statistics Canada.

Of the 98, 43 were in Nova Scotia, 28 in Ontario. six each in British Columbia and Newfoundland, four each in Manitoba, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, and three in Quebec.

Canada’s National Farm Animal Care Council (NFACC) maintains a code of practice for the care and handling of farmed mink. A five-year review was completed in 2018.

NFACC, on its website, says the code is “currently undergoing an amendment,” expected to be completed in March next year, with a public comment period now running into December.

Issues flagged as “major challenges” expected to be addressed in those amendments include pen sizes, access to nest boxes and methods of euthanasia.

— Reporting for Reuters by Nikolaj Skydsgaard and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; additional reporting by Stephanie Ulmer-Nebehay. Includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

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