to higher indebtedness. farmers are among the most frequent customers for adjustable - rate and deferredamortisation loans. in addition, a large part of the debt is denominated in foreign exchange. for some years, the swiss franc has been a popular currency for danish farmers to borrow in ( slide 10 ). whereas other sectors often seek to hedge foreign - exchange risks, many farmers take on such risks on a large scale. but this is not the whole issue. in some cases, foreign - exchange loans are not used to finance operations, but are invested in high - yield currencies. this is a purely financial transaction that is unrelated to running a farm. for a number of years it has indeed been possible to profit from these " carry trades ", whereby money is borrowed in a low - yield currency such as the swiss franc or the yen and invested in a high - yield currency such as the turkish lira, the icelandic krona or the new zealand dollar. however, such transactions always entail considerable risk, and much is to be said for exercising caution, even in favourable periods. exchange - rate adjustments can be abrupt and substantial. the question is whether everyone has been sufficiently aware of these risks when chasing " cheap money ". in any case, if a farm primarily yields a profit as a result of purely financial transactions, it is, perhaps, time for the farmer to find other employment. the banks are short of staff! the future for danish pig farming will be a continued elimination race in which only the fittest will survive. in addition to external competition and sustained price pressures, environmental and animal welfare regulations are becoming stricter. the pig - farming sector will have to accept this, even if the requirements sometimes exceed those imposed on foreign competitors. as you already know, it will be increasingly difficult to attract danish labour to the farms. around one fourth of all work permits for people from eastern europe are exercised within agriculture and horticulture. pig production can have a serious adverse impact on the environment and in many cases also on the local environment – it smells. with more than two pigs per capita, denmark has a high pig density. in some parts of the country, the figure is much higher, and the problems much greater, than elsewhere. at the same time, the public are very sensitive to animal welfare issues, as reflected in the recent years'cases of pig transports and shoulder ulcers in sows. these issues must be addressed by

speech. i am pleased to note that danish agriculture supports a controlled phasing - out of agricultural subsidies. as we know, agriculture is one of the major hurdles to be overcome in the current doha negotiations. to me there is no doubt that liberalisation will come some day. it is simply a question of when. globalisation is not a new phenomenon ; in denmark's case it has been going on for about a century – albeit with some setbacks ( slide 1 ). this period has been characterised by major technological advances, e. g. within transport and communication. as you will know, cheap transport via the new railways opened up for exports of wheat from the us prairie in the latter half of the 19th century. this called for restructuring of danish agricultural production from mainly crops to mainly livestock. danish agriculture was able to exploit the opportunities offered by globalisation, and c. f. tietgen's establishment of a telegraph connection from copenhagen to china was part of a clear globalisation strategy. following a period of protectionism, the last half century has been characterised by an international political environment that has promoted free trade, and free movement of capital and – to a lesser extent – people. growing international trade and investments are indications of increasing international division of work. low - technology production moves to countries whose strength is inexpensive labour. in turn, production in more developed countries becomes increasingly concentrated on high - technology products and complex services. in the last few years, globalisation seems to have gained further momentum as populous nations such as china and india are increasingly becoming part of the global market economy. once again, technological leaps within transport and communication have been the catalysts for the process. international integration is particularly advanced in the financial markets, and the last decade has seen a tremendous rate of development ( slide 2 ). the conditions for free movement of capital are probably better than ever. liberalisation of the international financial markets over the last few decades has enabled more efficient employment of capital from a global point of view. savings are placed where the largest returns can be achieved, and borrowers can raise capital from a wider range of investors. for investors, more open financial markets mean more placement opportunities. typically, investments in foreign production capacity are still placed in neighbouring countries. the shares of danish direct investments in countries such as china and india are increasing, but still at a low level overall. this also applies to eastern europe, actually. the many borrowing and placement opportunities can be used to increase, reduce or