Climate scientists agree on at least one necessary change in our food system: People, especially those in rich countries, should eat more plants and less animals.
Globally, livestock production is responsible for about 15 to 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions and accelerates other environmental problems, from deforestation to freshwater depletion. air pollution. And yet virtually all Western governments have designed their food policies to churn out more and more meat, milk and eggs.
The idea that we need to eat more, not less, is also baked into the cultural psyche of many nations, with both subtle and overt messages that meat is equal. manhood and prosperity. Meat has been dragged into the culture wars of many countries, stifling civil discourse on how to make food systems sustainable.
One country, however, more than any other, has heeded the advice of climate scientists: Denmark, a small Scandinavian country of 6 million people known for its intensive factory farming system and the resulting export of pork and dairy products.
In 2021, the Danish parliament and government reached an agreement to further change its food system plant-based and organic direction, and has earmarked about $200 million US to do so. About $85 million is going to farmers who produce plant-based food. The rest is being used for financing New projectlike experiment with “nudge theory” — redesigning cafeterias to subtly encourage consumers to choose more plant-based options — and launching a startup incubator for plant-based companies at the Technological Institute of Denmark.
Many people have labored to turn these ideas into policy, but the undisputed leader is Rune-Christopher Dragsdahl, Secretary-General of the Vegetarian Society of Denmark.
Dragsdahl became the society’s first employee in 2016, when he went unpaid for the first year or so. Since then, the company has hired 22 employees.
How did a small organization with little political clout blaze a trail toward a more sustainable, humane food system? I spoke with Dragsdahl last month to find out.
His secret, it turns out, is diplomacy.
Dragsdahl and his colleagues spent years building a coalition of farmers, scientists and organic food advocates, emphasizing shared values — sustainability and food innovation — rather than diversity, like the virtues of vegetarianism. The big tent vision appealed to politicians, including members of left-wing parties as well as politicians on the right, one of whom called the country’s plant-based action plan a “brilliant idea,” according to Dragsdahl.
“This, I think, shows the fact that we and other stakeholders have been able to manage this in the mainstream,” he told me. “There is still an ideological fight and obviously we are not finished, but we have to a large extent seen many people that this should also be a part of Danish agriculture and that it should be stronger. This has real potential. That there is no need to fight with more plants.”
My conversation with Dragsdahl has been edited for length and clarity.
What role does meat play in Danish society?
It’s really a focal point of food culture, Danish culture. There are a lot of social events, whether it’s football events — people will have their hot dogs — and when they’re grilling in the summer.
Apart from the food culture … Denmark is a very agricultural country. We are the most cultivated country in the world. Together with BangladeshIn terms of [percentage of the] The land is being cultivated on the surface, because the country is very flat, so you might say it is suitable for it.
Although the land may be suitable, you can over-farm it. And that problem – we have serious Loss of biodiversity Here, severe eutrophication. … So it’s definitely damaging the local environment here. But for decades, it has been difficult to do anything about it because at least some people have felt that we are an agricultural nation. It’s in our blood, who we are. And cattle are an integral part of it.
So there is something here culturally but also politically. And there is this universal pride for people – that Danish dairy, Danish butterExporting all over the world. … but of course, Bacon and pork products. But this has been increasingly questioned over the past 10 years.
What happened to lay the foundation for the plant-based action plan?
In 2019, we got the idea to start something we call Danish Network for Plant Proteins. You build a network, really, to welcome people wherever they are. … We had hard-hitting scientists, we had inspiring startups, we had interesting content — but always in a friendly and warm and realistic tone. And that means farmers’ associations too [the Danish Agriculture and Food Council] The participants then came back to us a month later and told us that they liked our approach. We didn’t agree on reducing livestock production, but they agreed that we could work together on how to look more plant-based. [food production] To diversify Danish agriculture.
When they did, it almost immediately eliminated any opposition from a large part of the political spectrum. So maybe some right-wing resistance becomes neutral and the ambivalence between the parties at the center of Danish politics becomes somewhat positive. And it was extremely helpful because you moved the whole playing field. And then, of course, the parties that are more progressive in the center and center-left, they can push harder for it, and the right can bring the moderate parties on board without making a big fuss about it. And that’s why farmers’ associations were definitely important.
I think we’ve really successfully emphasized that plant-based whole foods are both plant-based and processed. [foods] and everything in between. And on top of that, we’re getting less opposition from people who just want to cook at home and believe that kids should be taught how to cook their own vegetables again.
This solution requires both, and there [are] Also places in between. There may be processed products that mimic meat but are processed in a milder way. I think many Danish startups in this space are actually trying to find such solutions. So that’s been a way to get different types of people on board.
What types of plant-based projects have been funded?
So far, all around 35 projects Granted [in each of two rounds].
In the first round, Copenhagen’s Hospitality School received funding for a vegetarian chef’s degree. They received funding to create a curriculum that the government could then approve as acceptable for a new chef degree — one with no meat — and that degree became part of the government system, so it became a formal government education. But they couldn’t do that without funding for curriculum development.
In the second round some Dr [agricultural] The schools applied for funding to develop a curriculum on legumes, but also to teach professionals in the farmer’s school kitchens how to include more legumes in the foods young farmers eat.
What else should people know about Denmark’s efforts to develop a more plant-based food system?
Denmark is not paradise. [People] There will be this excuse – they will say, “It’s just Denmark, Denmark is always ahead in everything.” But that is not the whole story. And I think that the important part will be told here. With this, this incident happened in the country Highest livestock production per capita And with a very strong livestock lobbying sector. So while we can succeed in this in Denmark, other countries will follow suit. And for me, that’s a really important message that we shouldn’t give up – that there really is hope.
