Korn- og Foderstof Kompagniet (KfK) was a Danish company in the feed-stuffs industry. Founded in

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...

in 1896 by 12 merchants it grew through the early 20th century to become one of the largest Danish businesses trading in feed-stuffs and grain with branches in many Danish cities. It became one of the largest employers in Aarhus until the 2000s when the grain business was bought by a number of competitors, led by

Dansk Landbrugs Grovvareselskab Dansk Landbrugs Grovvareselskab, officially DLG, is a Danish co-operative company owned by Danish farmers. The main business areas are farm supplies, vitamins and minerals, service and energy. Activities comprise trade in seed grain, grain and o ...

, and renamed Treka. The remainder of KfK was reformed into the company Biomar A/S, focused mainly on fish feed.

History

In the early 1900s the

grain trade The grain trade refers to the local and international trade in cereals and other food grains such as wheat, barley, maize, and rice. Grain is an important trade item because it is easily stored and transported with limited spoilage, unlike other ...

changed dramatically as industrialization changed infrastructure and the scale of factories. Developments tended towards larger companies, increased competition and less personal relations between merchants and farmers. On this background 12 merchants in eastern

Jutland Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...

merged their businesses to form ''Korn- og Foderstof Kompagniet'' (English: The Grain- and Feed-stuff Company) or ''KfK'' on 2 June 1896. The goal was the advantages of larger scale and limiting competition in the region in order to focus on expansion to other markets. The founding members were some of the wealthiest and prominent businessmen in the region and counted among them

Hans Broge Hans Broge (4 December 1822 – 25 March 1908) was a Danish merchant, politician, Commander of the Order of the Dannebrog and recipient of the Danish Medal of Merit. He became one of the most prominent Danish businessmen of his time and helped e ...

Otto Mønsted Rasmus Otto Mønsted (23 November 1838 - 4 September 1916) was an industrialist and margarine manufacturer from Denmark. Born at the rural family manor of Lyngsbækgård on Mols near Ebeltoft, Otto Mønsted became a wholesaler of butter, grain a ...

and

Harboe Meulengracht Harboe Galthen Meulengracht (10 February 1767 – 27 May 1853) was a Danish merchant and shipowner in Denmark who was appointed to the Danish Supreme Court and was purveyor to the royal household. Biography Meulengracht was born in Aarhus to Lar ...

from Aarhus and

Johan Ankerstjerne Johan Valdemar Ankerstjerne (17 January 1886 – 18 August 1959) was a Danish cinematographer who for many years was head of cinematography at Nordisk Film. He was reportedly the best cameraman in Denmark in the 1910s, making many films for August ...

from

Randers Randers () is a city in Randers Municipality, Central Denmark Region on the Jutland peninsula. It is Denmark's sixth-largest city, with a population of 62,802 (as of 1 January 2022). The silo complex in the

Port of Aarhus The Port of Aarhus (Danish: Aarhus Havn) is a deep-sea port located in the city of Aarhus. It is the largest container port in Denmark, handling more than 50% of country's container traffic. The Port of Aarhus shipped roughly 8.4 million metric to ...

was heavily damaged during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

when a German ammunition barge exploded on 4 July 1944. The complex had to be rebuilt almost from scratch but that also meant the branch in Aarhus entered to post-war years with modern facilities. The complex was heavily expanded around 1960 with new large silos but since the company stopped in 2002 many have been demolished to make room for new developments. In the decades following the establishment the company grew to have branches across the country. In 1913 KfK went public and up to the 1970s it was dominated by many minor stockholders. Until 1968 individual branches acted as independent entities for their local areas while the main office in Aarhus coordinated imports of

press cake A press cake or oil cake is the solids remaining after pressing something to extract the liquids. Their most common use is in animal feed. Some foods whose processing creates press cakes are olives for olive oil (''pomace''), peanuts for ...

s and the international business. In 1968 the administration was centralized and moved to a new office building in

Viby J Viby J (or just Viby) is a former town and now a district, in the southwestern part of Aarhus in Denmark. The district has almost 30,000 inhabitants. The "J" stands for Jutland, as there is another town called Viby on the island of Zealand, offici ...

. The following years

Norsk Hydro Norsk Hydro ASA (often referred to as just ''Hydro'') is a Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company, headquartered in Oslo. It is one of the largest aluminium companies worldwide. It has operations in some 50 countries around the world an ...

bought increasingly larger shares of stock which eventually grew to some 62,5%. In 2002 KfK was put up for sale and a

consortium A consortium (plural: consortia) is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for ...

of 8 companies headed by

(DLG) bought all activities related to agriculture. The remaining business was renamed Treka A/S consisting of two separate companies; BioMar A/S, producing fish feed, and EcoNordic, producing biofuels in the form of

wood pellets Pellet fuels (or pellets) are biofuels made from compressed organic matter or biomass. Pellets can be made from any one of five general categories of biomass: industrial waste and co-products, food waste, agricultural residues, energy crops, and ...

. EcoNordic was sold to

Statoil Equinor ASA (formerly Statoil and StatoilHydro) is a Norwegian state owned enterprise, state-owned multinational energy company headquartered in Stavanger. It is primarily a petroleum company, petroleum company, operating in 36 countries with ad ...

in 2003 where it became the subsidiary Statoil EcoNordic and in 2005

sold its controlling share in Biomar to Schouw & Co. In 2012, Biomar had a revenue of 8.2 billion DKK and 1000 employees in production facilities in seven countries.

References

{{Authority control Former cooperatives of Denmark Defunct companies based in Aarhus Danish companies established in 1896