General information

If you are interested in an agricultural training stay in Denmark, you must apply through our partner organizations in your home country; they will provide you with an application form. You can find a list of our partner organizations here. Please note that only applications received through our partner organizations will be accepted. If we do not have a partner organizations in you country, a training stay through our office is not possible, as individual applications are not taken into consideration.

It is important that you specify what you wish to work with. In order to get a placement in Denmark you need to have experience within your requested field of work. After we have received your full application from our partner, we will try to match your qualifications with a host.

When we have found a placement, you will need to fill in a part of the visa application and go to the Embassy to apply for a working visa.

Once you have been granted a working visa for Denmark, you need to make travel arrangements. When you arrive in Copenhagen you will have a meeting with us at Travel to Farm, where we will provide you with additional information regarding contracts, tax payment, cultural adjustment etc. After your meeting we will arrange travel by train to your host. You will have to pay for this yourself.
Arriving at your host, lodging will be provided at a fixed cost of DKK 1000, including electricity and heating. Depending on your host, you will either have to cook your own meals, or some meals will be provided.

The first month is a probation period, during which the trainee, as well as the host, can cancel the employment agreement with two weeks notice. After the probation period the contract can be cancelled from both sides with one month's notice to end the last day in the following month.

If you have problems during your stay, Travel to Farm is always available to help. Apart from the contact with Travel to Farm, which will continue unchanged, the trainee traveling to Denmark will have a contact person at the regional office of the Young Farmer’s Clubs, with whom they shall meet and may contact in case of any questions or problems should occur. If for instance the working conditions at your placement is not in order, a farm youth advisor will visit your placement and examine what needs to be changed.
In June, Travel to Farm arranges a study tour for all our trainees in the country, you can read more about that here.

Modern farming in Denmark needs competent and skilled help.

In order to join our programme, you have to:

• be 19-29 years old,
• speak English and/or German proficiently,
• be a student or post graduate from an agricultural college, agricultural technical school or agricultural university,
• if you are from outside the EU, you must be a student and pass a language test,
• have proven experience of full-time practical farm work in the requested type of farm (min. 6 months),
• preferably have a driving licence for car as well as for tractor
• be prepared to stay for 9-12 months (stays shorter than 4 months are not accepted)
• be unmarried

If you are interested in an agricultural training stay in Denmark, you must apply through our partner organizations in your home country, they will provide you with an application form. You can find a list of our partner organizations here (*link til alle partnere). Travel to Farm does not accept direct applications.

You can read the general rules about residence in Denmark her.

Work permit:
The Danish Agency for Labour Retention and International Recruitment charge an application fee DKK 2,940. This fee is paid at the embassy in your home country.

In order to cover the costs of our administrative work, we charge an administration fee from all incoming trainees.

For the year 2023 the fees are as follows:

All stays: DKK 5,000

The total amount will be deducted from your first two month’s salary in Denmark according to decision of Travel to Farm.

In addition to the administration fee, you will have to pay the additional insurance yourself (DKK 75/month if you are from Europe and DKK 103/month if you are from overseas) approximately DKK 1,100 per year.

The monthly salary before taxes is DKK 11,571. 

Payment for extra work hours during peak seasons is DKK 108,26 per hour for the first two hours per day and DKK 129,91 per additional hour.

The host farm is to provide a room for the trainee, including heat, electricity, water, bed sheets and towels. The price for this room is fixed to DKK 2,000/month, which is deducted from your salary. You will also have to pay for transportation from our office to the host farm.

In Denmark the tax deduction is approximately 39%. Each month you get about approx. DKK 6,400 in net cash payment after tax has been deducted. The exact amount depends on specific tax agreements between Denmark and your home country and could change from one year to another.

Please note that the salary is regulated every year the 1st of March. Stay informed here at our website or contact the Travel to Farm office.

• Husbandry animals: Dairy cattle, sows and slaughter hogs.
• Field crops (12 months experience and tractor drivers licence required). Few placements (0-5).
• Vegetable production. Limited number of placements (10-15/year in all).

All our host farms are approved to have trainees by the regional young farmer’s club, who have visited the farm to confirm that work and living conditions live up to our standards.
General working hours for trainees placed by Travel to Farm is 37 hours per week.

During peak seasons such as sowing and harvest there will usually be extra work. As a rule you will get extra time off in compensation for any hours exceeding 37 hours a week. The host farmer can choose to pay extra for overtime work instead of giving you extra time off.

Trainees work alongside the host farmer and possible Danish workers. No student should work longer hours than the farmer himself. Trainees who want to work with animals must be prepared to work on Saturdays and Sundays. All trainees must be prepared to work on Saturdays and possibly Sundays during peak seasons.

Trainees will get 2½ days holidays per month, or 15 days during a period of six months.

Responsibility and independence
Denmark is unique because of the very high level of responsibility and independent work.

If you plan to become a manager of a farm in your home country or run your own farm in the future, a training stay of 12 months will be very rewarding and important part of your agricultural education.

The daily work
You will NOT work as a manager, but as a farm worker. Most farms in Denmark are of a size, where the host famer and often his wife are participating in every day’s work besides the management of the farm. Through the work, you will gain a good understanding of the management of the farm, as well as how to estimate technical and economic efficiency. You will also learn about feeding plans, animal breeding, plans for fertilizing and chemical protection of crops, crop rotation and varieties.

The weekly work time in Denmark is only 37 hours per week, sometimes a little more. Overtime hours are paid per hour. This basically means that you run fast in a Danish farm, and then have quite a lot of free time. The expected work speed on a Danish farm is very high and this always surprises trainees. In combination with a lot of new impressions and information, you will, in the beginning of your stay, naturally feel very tired, physically and mentally. Many trainees move straight from the classroom to a full-time position of occasionally hard, physical work. This will make everybody tired, but within a couple of months, you should acclimate to the farm work.

After 2 months
After 1-2 months, you are already expected to have your own jobs and daily routines, for which you are personally responsible. You are supposed to carry out these jobs without direct instructions from the host, monitor the production and also ask and inform your host in case of any irregularities or problems during the daily work.

Basically, you must be able to put yourself to work and control your own work at the same time.

You should at this stage also be able to look after and care for animals during the weekend or in the host farmer’s temporary absence, as well as monitor all installations and equipment connected to the every day production.

Add to this, you will of course participate in many different jobs on the farm, according to the time of the year and temporary projects decided by the host. You can of course expect, besides the daily routines with animals or crops, to do some building maintenance, jobs in garden or forest, work with machinery and farm equipment in a wider sense, together with the host.

A complaint from hosts is sometimes that the trainee shows a lack of interest, not asking questions, not reporting incidents, as for example illness among piglets, the birth of a calf, stomach problems with new born calves. You are expected to show attention and responsibility. Basically, you are supposed to perform as if your host farm belonged to yourself and take responsibility.

After 6 months
After about half a year, you are expected to be able to run the farm or a part of the production for maybe a week or so, in case of the farmer’s or other employee’s holidays or absence for other reasons.

Skills needed
To meet these expectations you need good language skills, real experience with practical farm work like milking, looking after sows/hogs or tractor driving/field work. And finally, complete motivation and readiness to learn, being able to follow and carry out instructions and show interest in the production of the farm is expected of you.

Of course, the host is ready to teach you everything you need to do, to be able to achieve this, but you are still expected to know how to do the basic jobs, when you come to Denmark. Secondly, without proficiency in English or German, you will not be able to understand instructions, ask questions or report problems to the host.

Motivation
But most important is your motivation to learn and develop your skills in farm work. If the host feels that you are really trying to do your best, they, as well as Travel to Farm, will support you in order to make your stay in Denmark successful.

If you are traveling to Denmark from a country outside of the EU, it is important that you are aware that it is not allowed to bring seeds, plants, fruits, vegetables or other plant products into the European Union. Be sure that you do NOT bring any of these products with you in your baggage when traveling to Denmark.