Restructuring European freshwater aquaculture from family-owned to large-scale firms - lessons from Danish aquaculture
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Restructuring European freshwater aquaculture from family-owned to large-scale firms - lessons from Danish aquaculture. / Nielsen, Rasmus; Asche, Frank; Nielsen, Max.
In: Aquaculture Research, Vol. 47, No. 12, 2016, p. 3852–3866.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Restructuring European freshwater aquaculture from family-owned to large-scale firms - lessons from Danish aquaculture
AU - Nielsen, Rasmus
AU - Asche, Frank
AU - Nielsen, Max
N1 - Published online: 14 July 2015
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Aquaculture is the world's fastest growing animal food producing sector. Although its overall performance is very good, it is unevenly spread geographically. In particular, the growth in most EU countries has been stagnating over the past 20 years despite repeated policy initiatives to launch new growth in the industry. The lack of production growth in EU aquaculture is often explained by strict environmental regulation and bureaucracy. In this article, we argue that an additional important element is an industry structure that limits the innovation and use of new technologies. Historically, farms have been small and often co-managed with larger agriculture production. However, to succeed in a market with global competition, technological innovation and sector-wide specialization, it is necessary to continuously increase productivity and induce investments in larger production facilities to take advantage of economies of scale. In Denmark, a structural change was ‘kicked off’ in 2005. In just 6 years, 30% of Danish production in freshwater has been reallocated to larger and more technologically advanced recirculation farms. Labour productivity has increased and the environmental impact per kilo of fish produced has been reduced, improving future prospects for aquaculture in Denmark and Europe.
AB - Aquaculture is the world's fastest growing animal food producing sector. Although its overall performance is very good, it is unevenly spread geographically. In particular, the growth in most EU countries has been stagnating over the past 20 years despite repeated policy initiatives to launch new growth in the industry. The lack of production growth in EU aquaculture is often explained by strict environmental regulation and bureaucracy. In this article, we argue that an additional important element is an industry structure that limits the innovation and use of new technologies. Historically, farms have been small and often co-managed with larger agriculture production. However, to succeed in a market with global competition, technological innovation and sector-wide specialization, it is necessary to continuously increase productivity and induce investments in larger production facilities to take advantage of economies of scale. In Denmark, a structural change was ‘kicked off’ in 2005. In just 6 years, 30% of Danish production in freshwater has been reallocated to larger and more technologically advanced recirculation farms. Labour productivity has increased and the environmental impact per kilo of fish produced has been reduced, improving future prospects for aquaculture in Denmark and Europe.
U2 - 10.1111/are.12836
DO - 10.1111/are.12836
M3 - Journal article
VL - 47
SP - 3852
EP - 3866
JO - Aquaculture Research
JF - Aquaculture Research
SN - 1355-557X
IS - 12
ER -
ID: 142465866