Successful purchase Swiss yellow peas

Kemptthal, Switzerland, December 5 2022 - Swiss foodtech start-up Planted, known for its meat made from alternative proteins, is investing in sourcing plant-based proteins from Switzerland. Planted is the fastest growing European start-up in the alternative protein sector and, as a founding member of the Swiss Protein Association, is proactively working for sustainable change in the Swiss food system.

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

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

Successful purchase of Swiss yellow peas

In order to be able to further increase local added value, the young company has now successfully started to purchase 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' Union, which is supporting the measures, and the 2022 package of agricultural ordinances, this step is financially and operationally possible for the first time ever - because until now, without the equality between feed use and plant-based food, farmers who wanted to deliver to Planted had to do without 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 running the value chain in Switzerland from the beginning and learn to align it with the needs and quality requirements of our products and customers. ", explains Lukas Böni, co-founder of Planted. "This is a great investment in the Swiss protein market for us as a start-up, which we do 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 driving forward political framework conditions
 

The adoption of the new agricultural regulation package regarding the equal treatment of plant proteins for human nutrition is essential for Planted and the entire Swiss alternative protein market. However, the political framework still needs to be changed significantly in order to achieve at least equal treatment of plant and animal foods. Planted is one of the founding partners of the SPA | Swiss Protein Association und at proactively works with industry and agricultural partners to advance the issue of sustainable alternative protein sources on the political agenda.