Successful purchase of Swiss yellow peas

Kemptthal, Switzerland, December 5 2022 – The Swiss food tech start-up Planted, known for its meat from alternative proteins, is investing in the procurement of plant-based proteins from Switzerland. Planted is the fastest growing European start-up in the field of alternative proteins and, as a founding member of the Swiss Protein Association, is proactively committed to a sustainable change in the Swiss food system.
 

On November 2, 2022, the Federal Council announced that the agricultural ordinance package 2022 had been adopted. With this political change, from January 1, 2023, single-crop contributions will also be granted for the cultivation of protein plants for human consumption. Until now, the cultivation of certain protein plants was only supported by single-crop contributions if the yield was used for animal feed. For Planted, this is a first important step towards promoting plant-based foods more strongly with the support of Swiss agriculture.  

In the first three years since the company was founded, Planted has built a meat production and research center with over 150 employees in Kemptthal, Zurich. Around 1 ton of plant-based meat is produced per hour and now supplies 7 European markets. 
 

Successful purchase of Swiss yellow peas

In order to further increase local value creation, the young company has now successfully started purchasing yellow peas in Switzerland as a result of the Federal Council's decision. Thanks to the commitment of forward-looking politicians, the pioneering spirit of Swiss farmers, the Swiss Farmers' Association, which supports the measures, and the agricultural ordinance package 2022, this step is financially and operationally possible for the first time - because up until now, without equal treatment between feed use and plant-based food, farmers who wanted to supply Planted had to forego subsidies.  

"With this groundbreaking step to be able to source Swiss yellow peas as well as Swiss rapeseed oil , Planted can now continue to work on going through the value chain in Switzerland from the beginning and learn to align it with the needs and quality demands of our products and customers. ", explains Lukas Böni, co-founder of Planted. "This is a big investment in the Swiss protein market for us as a start-up, which we are making out of conviction. Scaling the value chain will take several more years and we are happy to have found partners with whom we can push this vision further. We are immensely excited to be able to incorporate Swiss yellow peas into our production."
 

Proactively promote political framework conditions
 

The adoption of the new agricultural regulation package regarding the equality of plant-based proteins for human nutrition is essential for Planted and the entire Swiss market for Alternative Proteins. However, the political framework conditions must continue to change significantly in order to achieve at least equal treatment of plant-based and animal-based foods. Planted is one of the founding partners of the SPA | Swiss Protein Association and proactively works with partners from industry and agriculture to advance the issue of sustainable alternative protein sources on the political agenda.