The Danish Agriculture & Food Council and SEGES Innovation are the Danish participants in a major EU project that focuses on pig welfare. Placing practitioners at the forefront, the project aims to identify welfare initiatives that work in practice in key areas. In addition to Denmark, the other countries are Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Romania and Spain.

Focus is now shifting from development to documentation and implementation, with Denmark positioning itself as one of the most active countries where best practice is already being translated into action.  

Vision transformed into practice

During 2025, the WelFarmers’ project has moved from scoping to action. More than 90 so-called good practices have been collected by the eight participating countries; practices that are already working across pig housing units and which are now being professionally assessed, documented and made available in an open knowledge bank.  

In Denmark, pig producers up and down the country have delivered solutions ranging from farrowing pens with loose-housed sows, production with intact tails, painless castration, optimised pen design and floor layout. The Danish cases highlight solutions that work in practice and are already documented in day-to-day practice on actual farms.

From experience in the pig unit to EU legislation

The EU Commission is currently working on a new revision of the animal welfare regulations, which includes the phasing out of stalls in farrowing pens. In this respect, WelFarmers has become a knowledge-sharing partner as the project provides proven practice from actual farms for the EU’s work. This means that Danish experience and solutions are now included as examples in the professional groundwork for the creation of new regulations. National networks are being formed and professional workshops are being planned at host farms across national borders.

Pig production - Progress in figures

• Over 90 solutions collected and under professional assessment
• 12 solutions relating to pig units have preliminarily been selected as 'best practices' across the EU
• Four out of five solutions for loose-housed sows come from Denmark
• National networks and knowledge-sharing are underway in all eight participating countries
• The first step-by-step guides and check lists to be launched in 2026

Importance for the pork industry and the export of pork

For companies involved with Danish pigs for export markets, the development means that animal welfare will become a measurable competitive parameter. With WelFarmers’ data, Danish products will be able to document that production meets the highest EU standards and, in some cases, even exceeds them.  

This may carry weight in discussions with foreign buyers and food companies where animal welfare requirements and transparency are growing rapidly.

The overall message from the Danish pig industry is clear: Danish pig production is more advanced than many realise.
Through WelFarmers, the Danish pig industry is not just part of the European welfare work – it’s setting the future course.