He became the owner of ten estates; many were located in the Lolland-Falster area where he resided at Orupgaard near Nykøbing Falster, where he founded a sugar factory in 1884.

Tesdorpf was born into a wealthy family in Hamburg as the son of merchant Oberalter Friedrich Jacob Tesdorgph (1781–1862) og Dorothea Rücker (1789–1844).

He later acquired many other large properties, including Pandebjerg (1878) on Falster and Sædlingegård (1871) on Lolland, until he finally owned ten estates across Denmark with a total area of 2,400 hectares (5,900 acres).

He thoroughly drained and fertilized the land, pioneered the use of steam power and new machinery in Danish agriculture, brought in new breeds of cattle and built a dairy, achieving a five-fold increase in production by 1890.

He was appointed an honorary member of the organisation when he retired from the post and was awarded its gold medal as the first recipient in 36 years.