Private and Public Incentives for Prevention of Livestock Diseases on Danish Farms

摘要

Denmark is one of the EUcountries with a highly recognised agricultural sector, a high level of animal health and one of the lowest medication usages. In this article we aim to provide an overview of both private and public animal health incentives nested in the cattle and pigproduction industry that influence the decisions and behaviours of farmers in prevention of livestock disease epidemics. Not only do individual Danish pig and cattle farmers aim at highly efficient animal production, they are also involved in collectivemarketing and contracting which can enhance social capital, peer pressure and instill a greater sense of ownership of disease control prevention. Public incentives including rules on how animals should be transported within Denmark, SPF certification requirements and rules on farm biosecurity further improve farmer incentives to prevent animal diseases. However, Danish pig and cattle farmers' incentives could be further improved by specifying consequences for not following requirements such as failure to make a compulsory biosecurity plan. The relatively high compensation in case of a disease outbreak provides a safety net for farmers, encourages them to quickly report suspected notifiable diseases but it could also reduce incentives for disease prevention due to the relatively high amounts of compensation.