The Danish Foundation for Plant-Based Foods (Fonden For Plantebaserede Fodevarer) has announced the first 36 selected projects of the Plant Fund (Plantefonden) — a DKK 675 million ($100M) a government initiative to promote climate-friendly plant-based food until 2030.
The selected projects will receive DKK 58.2 million in funding to support the country’s first phase of its plant-based food agenda: developing new food options, training kitchen staff, and launching national awareness campaigns to promote plant-based foods. Thirty-three of the projects are scheduled to begin work in January 2024.
Plantefonden was established to bolster the development of the plant-based food sector. It is part of the Agreement on the Green Transition of Danish Agriculture (to reduce GHG emissions) signed in October 2021. Additionally, a few months ago, the Danish government released a national action plan to strengthen and promote the country’s plant-based sector as part of the necessary shift toward climate-friendly diets.
Stimulating demand
The Danish Foundation for Plant-Based Foods operates based on three strategic development areas: stimulating demand, stimulating supply, and building sectoral bridges. For this year’s application round, the foundation emphasized projects that focus on stimulating demand for plant-based foods by raising consumer awareness about the benefits and availability of such products.
“(…) we’ll look back on something that was not only the start of a broad national success, but also the moment that sparked a global movement”
According to the organization, this year, 46 % of the funds will support the availability of plant-based food in public and private commercial kitchens and food service. 30 % will be allocated to promote plant-based foods among consumers. 17 % will support efforts to enhance the quantity and quality of plant-based products available in the market.
With the positive impact of these initiatives, the Danish Foundation for Plant-Based Foods is expanding opportunities for plant-based foods in Denmark.
Marie-Louise Boisen Lendal, the chairperson of the Plant Fund, shared: “This is world history. Denmark is a pioneering country and has created the Plant Foundation in a broad agreement at Christiansborg, which has now made the first pledges.
“In this round, we have prioritized commitments to the smaller projects with the goal of ensuring that the Plant Foundation’s funds have as broad an impact on society as possible. I hope that when we look back on this moment 10 years from now, we’ll look back on something that was not only the start of a broad national success, but also the moment that sparked a global movement.”
The FIGO project, a partnership between Tempty Foods, Dansk Vegetarisk Forening (DVF), Vegetarian Society of Denmark, Food Solutions A/S, and Professionshøjskolen Absalon, has secured the largest project funding (over DKK 4.3M) to promote and increase the consumption of the plant-based products in the country.
