At the Hastrupgard piggery at Frederica, in the Jutland region, animal welfare and quarantine concerns in particular have forced the business to get bigger to help counter the costs of doing things better.

While not unique to Denmark, all visitors to this farm (including journalists!) must completely shower and change into supplied clothing before moving into a tightly controlled quarantine zone on the farm.

Farmers are not allowed to enter other farms within 48 hours to minimise the spread of any diseases.

Quality control is paramount, and at this piggery – home to 1200 sows – a new and very sophisticated livestock identification system has been introduced and with the help of a personal handheld computer, employees can take any pig and scan its ear to bring up its complete health and genetic history, plus production statistics like weight gains.

Farm manager, Ditler Lindholm, said from 2013, Danish farmers will not be allowed to house any sows in stalls, and will need to keep them all in free pens to comply with new welfare legislation.

"We have a very high level of veterinary standards," Mr Lindholm said.

"It's one of the main reasons we're allowed into Australia.

"We are one of the biggest piggeries here because we need to be to meet the demands on us for better environment and animal welfare standards.

"But this is a very efficient way to produce pigs. The regulations are tough but we need them to export."