2021

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About vegconomist

Merry Christmas and Best Vegan Wishes From the Team

Dear Readers, Thank you for reading vegconomist regularly. We are taking an editorial break from 24.12 to 2.1.22, we will be back for you on 3.1 with new exciting content. We are very happy that so many professionals from all over the world use vegconomist. In 2021, we were able to increase our reach once again. We currently register 170,000 unique business visitors per month from 190 countries, plus almost 12,000 newletter subscriptions and over 27,000 LinkedIn followers. We offer an enormous pool of over 6,000 articles and interviews free of charge. A special thanks goes to the numerous companies that have booked advertising campaigns with vegconomist. They have practically financed the content. Many, many thanks for that! We hope that in 2022 there will …

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©Elysabeth Alfano
Company News

My Business Year in Review: Elysabeth Alfano

The wonderful Elysabeth Alfano of the Plant-Based Business Hour is truly a force to be reckoned with in the vegan business space! What Elysabeth doesn’t know about vegan business isn’t worth knowing, and that’s why she is so respected and admired within our industry. “Never stop. Never, ever, ever stop. Nose to the grindstone. Eyes to the sky.” We caught up with friend to the team Elysabeth on her year in review. What were your personal highlights of 2021? 2021 felt like warped speed. Through my company Plant Powered Consulting, I worked with so many brands helping them grow their business and visibility.  It was nothing short of pure joy to see their brands take flight, or go to the next level if already established, …

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Allen Zelden, Founder FutureVVorld
Company News

My Business Year in Review: Allen Zelden of FutureVVorld

Allen Zelden, as many of our readers will know, is an Australian expert in all things plant-based and sustainable with a focus on the APAC region. Founder of sustainability platform FutureVVworld, mentor and business advisor to many, as well as correspondent and friend to vegconomist. “I believe we all have a duty to lead by example and leave the world in a healthier and better place for our children and all future generations” We caught up with Allen to find out his highlights of the year and thoughts looking ahead to 2022. What were your personal highlights of 2021? For me, 2021 was truly a year for the record books! My greatest personal highlight was launching FUTUREVVORLD which is a digital platform completely dedicated to the growing …

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Quorn launches new products

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Products & Launches

Quorn Launches New Products for Veganuary, Including Mini Fillets & Wings

Alt-meat brand Quorn launches new products to cater to Brits who plan to reduce their meat consumption in the new year. British company Quorn is adding five new mycoprotein-based meat alternatives to its range. The new products are Southern Fried Wings, Garlic and Herb Bites, Creamy Korma Bites, Jerk Mini Fillets, and Sweet Chilli Mini Fillets. Featuring a smokey taste and a chicken-like texture, the Wings are part of Quorn’s new Vegan Takeaway range. The Bites — balls of breadcrumb-coated mycoprotein with a filling in the centre — contain either a creamy garlic and herb sauce or a mild korma curry. The vegan Mini Fillets consist of mycoprotein marinated in either a jerk sauce or a sweet chilli sauce. They are said to be ideal …

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NuCicer Novel Chickpea Varieties

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Agriculture / Agribusiness

NuCicer Unveils Chickpeas with 75% More Protein, Slashing Costs by Half

Plant genetics pioneer NuCicer has developed chickpeas with 75% higher protein content than conventional varieties. The new chickpeas are non-GMO and developed naturally using wild genetic diversity, producing a highly cost-effective protein with the power to disrupt the plant-based industry.  Looking to outcompete soy, wheat, and pea, NuCicer reports that its new ultra-high protein varieties will cut the cost of chickpea protein by almost half. Speaking with vegconomist, NuCicer co-Founder and CEO Kathryn Cook explains that the company uses “genomics-guided, speed breeding” techniques to optimize natural genetic diversity. This allows NuCicer to reduce a traditional 10-year breeding cycle down to as few as 24 months. NuCicer has spent over ten years compiling the world’s largest collection of wild crop progenitors with cultivated chickpea, and is …

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© Violife
Marketing & Media

Violife Urges Consumers to “Change Your Cheese, Change Our Planet” for Veganuary

The UK’s leading vegan cheese brand Violife has launched a campaign encouraging consumers to “Change Your Cheese, Change Our Planet”, with the campaign  megin on January 1st to coincide with Veganuary. The new multimedia campaign will show people swapping dairy cheese for Violife while eating out, cooking at home, and more. It will feature meals such as the ‘Change’ Burger, Nachos N’ Change, and the ‘Changecake’. The campaign has been launched following a study which revealed that Violife’s products have less than half the carbon footprint of dairy cheese. To improve its environmental impact even further, the brand has pledged to plant 10,000 trees from the beginning of January. Consumers will be able to record how many vegan meals they have eaten on the Violife …

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actual veggies vegan breakfast burger

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Products & Launches

Actual Veggies Develops Vegan Breakfast Burger With Banana, Blueberries, and Acai

US company Actual Veggies produces plant-based burgers made with vegetables instead of processed ingredients. Now, the brand has created a sweet vegan breakfast burger, offering consumers a healthier way to start the day. The new Morning Burger is made with blueberries, banana, acai, cauliflower, pumpkin seeds, dates, and blue spirulina. It is free from nuts, gluten, preservatives, soy, and added oils and sugars, while also being certified kosher and non-GMO. The vegan breakfast burger will be sold frozen in packs of four. It can be served pan-fried, or blended up and added to a smoothie. Actual Veggies recently showcased the burger at Plant Based World Expo, an event that is not open to the public. The product has not yet been officially launched, and the …

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cows animal agriculture

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Society

Plant Protein Industry Gains Momentum in “Beef State” Nebraska

Growing plant-based protein is becoming an increasingly popular industry in Nebraska, one of America’s largest beef states, according to a recent report in The Independent.  Though beef and cattle ranching are Nebraska’s preeminent industries, more farmers are turning to growing beans, peas and lentils in response to soaring demand for healthy plant proteins. The fertile, well-irrigated soils of Nebraska provide perfect growing conditions for peas – the top protein of choice for many plant-based brands, including Beyond Meat.  While plant protein production is already established in large meat-producing states like Montana and North Dakota, Nebraska’s plant-based interests are particularly noteworthy. Proudly self-proclaimed the “Beef State”, Nebraska’s cattle population outnumbers people and beef production contributes approximately $12 billion to the state economy. Raising cattle is a …

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Organisations and brands:

Yeap Upcycled Yeast Protein

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Company News

Aleph Farms Founder Launches Yeap Upcycled Yeast to Disrupt the Alt Protein Market

Yeap upcycled yeast could be on the cusp of providing a sustainable, cost-effective, and scalable protein to seriously disrupt the plant-based industry. The brainchild of cultivated meat pioneer Didier Toubia – CEO of Aleph Farms – Israel-based Yeap leverages spent yeast after fermentation.  “A protein that can do it all; flavorful, clean, nutritious, sustainable, and last but not least, inexpensive”  As first reported by Food Navigator, Yeap’s technology develops protein from yeast that is a byproduct from other industries, including breweries. The process is further simplified by the fact that any yeast strain can be used by Yeap to create a functional concentrated protein.  The protein will be a cost-effective alternative for various food segments, including the alt dairy and alt meat markets currently dominated …

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Plantbased Business Hour

The Truth About Being An Entrepreneur with No Evil Foods’ Mike Wolianskhy and Sadrah Schadel

No Evil Foods…a plant-based classic!  Usually, on The Plantbased Business Hour, Elysabeth Alfano talks about the great strides made by plant-based companies and the huge amounts of monies raised.  Today, however, she pulls back the curtain to discuss the difficulty and daily struggles of being an entrepreneur. Ultimately, entrepreneurs are just everyday people trying to accomplish big dreams, sometimes unrealistically big dreams.  If successful, they create great products,  lots of jobs, and consumer and investor value.  But it isn’t always a straight line to the top.  It is often one step up and two steps back, to then hopefully jump three steps up. Mike Woliansky and Sadrah Schadel of No Evil Foods join Elysabeth on The Plantbased Busines Hour for a special one-off episode.  Known for their delicious …

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vegan egg alternative crackd

© Crackd
Products & Launches

Noble Foods Launches New and Improved Version of Vegan Egg Alternative Crackd

British egg producer Noble Foods has improved the recipe for its vegan egg alternative Crackd. The product, previously intended mostly for use in baking, can now also be used to make vegan scrambled eggs and omelettes. To accomplish this, the company has added several new ingredients to make the product creamier with a more eggy taste. The reformulation has also reduced the cooking time, meaning Crackd can now be microwaved to make scrambled eggs in just two minutes instead of seven. Since its introduction in October 2020, Crackd has launched at several major retailers such as Morrisons, M&S, Whole Foods, and TheVeganKind. At the beginning of the month, the product launched at Dutch retailer Jumbo, and Crackd has other European partnerships in the pipeline. Earlier …

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© Honest Burgers
Gastronomy & Food Service

Honest Burgers Launches First Vegan Restaurant V Honest in Collaboration With Fable Food

UK chain Honest Burgers is to launch V Honest, its first all-vegan restaurant. The menu will feature vegan versions of some of the chain’s existing burgers, as well as a selection of new ones — including mushroom-based options developed by Fable Food. New for Veganuary is the Teriyaki Plant, featuring a plant-based patty with Fable pulled shiitake mushrooms, teriyaki sauce, Applewood Vegan cheese, grilled peppers, spring onions, umami mayo, and lettuce with homemade rosemary chips. This burger will be available at all locations for the month of January. Exclusive to V Honest are the Pulled Shiitake Nuggets, consisting of Fable pulled shiitake fritters with spring onions and umami mayo. The new restaurant will also offer more brand-new options such as the Buffalo, Pesto, and Chilli …

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Beers anheuser-Busch InBev

©AB InBev
Company News

World’s Largest Beer Company Anheuser-Busch InBev to Upcycle Spent Grains for Alt Protein 

Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest beer maker and parent company of Budweiser, has doubled down on its commitment to recycling barley protein from its brewing process that can be used in plant-based products.  “We are the largest buyer and fermenter of malt globally” In a new interview with Yahoo! Finance, Anheuser-Busch InBev CEO Michel Doukeris explains the latest on the venture, including millions of dollars in new investment to repurpose the protein for the plant-based sector.  Doukeris details how through biotech technology, the company is able to separate fiber and protein, creating a high-quality end product without carbohydrates and a low carbon footprint. EverGrain, an Anheuser-Busch InBev company, has begun work on a $100 million protein in St. Louis, Missouri, and a second such facility …

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Vegan Nation Logo

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Business Wire

New Vegan Crypto Currency Is Listing On The Liquid

GreenCoin (GRNC) is launching on the Liquid Exchange following last month’s listing on the Bittrex TEL AVIV, Israel–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#vegan–SIPUP (OTCPINK: SPUP) announced today that its U.K. based subsidiary, VeganNation Finance Services Ltd. (https://vegannation.io/), is listing its digital coin on the Liquid exchange. Following the listing earlier in the month on the Bittrex, GRNC, one of the first vegan global crypto currencies, is scheduled to launch on the Liquid Exchange as of December 15, 2021. The GRNC has been designed by VeganNation to serve as a green global loyalty program, incentivizing sustainable user behavior to positively impact our society and the planet. By integrating GRNC within the VeganNation app recently released in the U.S. and soon to be released in other global markets, VeganNation seeks to …

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Yumi plant-based baby food

©Yumi
Investments & Finance

Yumi Secures $67M to Expand Organic Plant-Based Baby Food

Yumi, a direct-to-consumer company specializing in organic infant and toddler foods, successfully closed a $67 million in Series B funding, bringing the company’s total funding to $79 million, according to Forbes.  The Los Angeles-based brand initially launched in California in 2017, before expanding nationwide in 2019. Since then, the company has experienced phenomenal growth, reportedly now feeding 3% of all babies in the US and anticipating nearly  $100 million in sales next year. Yumi offers a completely plant-based product line designed to nourish babies and toddlers in the most critical growth stage of life, the company says. Its subscription-based model delivers weekly, highly customizable meals and snacks directly to families’ doorsteps. Since the start of the pandemic, Yumi has delivered more than 10 million meals. …

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Product developer preparing a burger and fries_Shanghai-5285

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Business Wire

Global Plant-based Protein Market to 2030 – Featuring Cargill, Glanbia and Ingredion Among Others – ResearchAndMarkets.com

DUBLIN–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The “Plant-based Protein Market Research Report – Global Industry Analysis and Growth Forecast to 2030” report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com’s offering. The global plant-based protein market value is predicted to rise to $26,721.3 million by 2030, at a 9.2% CAGR between 2020 and 2030. Companies Mentioned Archer Daniels Midland Company Cargill Incorporated Wilmar International Ltd. Roquette Freres Glanbia PLC Kerry Group plc Koninklijke DSM N.V. BENEO GmbH Emsland Group Ingredion Inc. AGT Food and Ingredients The key factor behind the rising demand for such products is the increasing shift away from animal proteins, both on ethical and biological grounds. For instance, lactose intolerance is a common health issue affecting millions of people around the world, which is why they do not consume milk …

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Congress Alternative Protein Research

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Politics & Law

US Congress Requests at Least $50 Million for Alternative Protein Research

In the latest political milestone for alternative proteins, US House Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA) led 10 members of Congress in asking the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to expand funding for alternative protein research.  In a December 17 letter, Rep. Khanna and additional members of the House Agriculture Committee asked USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to include alternative proteins research in the Fiscal Year 2023 USDA Budget Request. The letter also requested $50 million of coronavirus relief funding be allocated to alternative protein research in order to “improve the sustainability and resiliency of our food systems” and “create new economic opportunities for American farmers, new benefits for consumers, and help reduce agricultural emissions.” A pivotal year The latest show of Congressional support for protein research …

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Mark van Hobe Foodmaker

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Agriculture / Agribusiness

Biocyclic Vegan Agriculture Arrives in Belgium

In October 2021, the organic farm Bioboer Mark, managed by Mark Van Hove in Bekkevoort, was the first organic farm in Belgium to be awarded the international Biocyclic Vegan Quality Seal for his herb and vegetable cultivation. This means that growers work according to an organic, plant-based farming method that does not use production animals or any animal inputs. The Biocyclic Vegan Quality Seal covers organic farmers in many countries such as Germany, Greece, France, Romania, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and recently Canada. Although the movement in Belgium is currently small, Mark Van Hove has been working with plant-based fertilization for many years. Working purely plant-based seemed logical to him and the needs for his farm. The extraction of goods each season impoverishes the …

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OPP-Joe-in-Christmas-jumper-741x555

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Company News

Our Business Year in Review: One Planet Pizza

Vegan pizza pioneer One Planet Pizza is undeniably the king of the collab in the UK’s plant-based business space. In recent times the father and son duo has worked alongside industry names for new product launches such as Derek Sarno, THIS, and VFC to name just a few. We caught up with Co-founder Joe Hill to find out OPP’s highlights of 2021 and thoughts on the year ahead in vegan pizza. “Let’ support each other to help fix the broken food system and shape the future we want to live in” What were your personal highlights of 2021? Firstly, I think we all deserve a pat on the back for simply surviving this year! But for us at One Planet HQ, we have been hugely …

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Ooho Notpla seaweed packaging

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Investments & Finance

Notpla Seaweed Packaging Raises £10M For Fully Edible, Biodegradable Plastic

Notpla, a seaweed packaging startup, has raised £10 million in Series A funding for its sustainable packaging solution. Named Ooho, the alternative to plastic is an edible and fully biodegradable packaging made of seaweed.  As first reported by Silicon Canals, London-based Notpla will use the fresh funds to grow its manufacturing capacity while developing new innovations, such as a transparent flexible film and a seaweed paper. According to the company, seaweed is one of the planet’s most abundant sources of biomass and its production is highly sustainable.  Seaweed production does not compete with food crops, requires no fertilizer or freshwater, and sequesters carbon dioxide. Founded in 2014 by Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez and Pierre-Yves Paslier, Notpla’s products easily biodegrade in just 4-6 weeks without the need …

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