What is Frej - and what is our mission?
Think Tank Frej is the food industry’s force of change.
We’ve spent the last eight years contributing - successfully - to getting the Danish food sector to set concrete climate goals. We’ve been in the machine room and recommended incentive structures that give farmers economic benefits by shifting to more sustainable ways. We’ve put plant-based food as a top priority on the politcal agenda and in companies as a clear solution.
Even though the actors in the food industry are close knit and dependent on each other, they often work isolated in siloes. We believe, that the key to the necessary change is collaboration and systematic changes, that can break down these barriers. We create collective action in the value chain, so we can develop the green system of food production of the future.
Mission
Frej builds bridges and motivate the green change from field to fork with key stakeholders and across generations
Vision
Frej works to create a new food system that respects the planet’s boundaries.
Frej’s goal is, that all food companies - from small time farmers to giant companies - will change in respect to the planetary limits. And that the youth understand, that they can create change, when they know, what it takes to fill the dinner plate without overdraft fees on the planets account.
Frej’s job is to push democratic dialogue about hurdles and their solutions between relevant actors in Denmark to build a bridge between different opinions. We need to continue to be a challenging voice in a conservative food sector. We have to know what young people think and know about the food sector, and we need to convey a world of abstract and technical terms about food production in an engaging and forward-seeking way.
Strategy 2025-2030
‘We want to challenge the system of food production with wild green energy’ is out 2030 plan, that shows what change, we can be able to create just over the next 5 years.
The strategy points out the sight lines and efforts, that are needed to future proof the organisation and be able to affect changes in the food sector into the future.
It builds upon the eight years with Frej as a central and relevant agent of change for a more sustainable Danish food production.
Frej wishes to bring us together around those areas, that separate us the most when it comes to creating sustainable change in food production.
Strategic focus area
WE INNOVATE
Frej has to create dialogue between actors in the food sector about the largest challenges and dilemmas, curate the best solutions to something that is actionable - and translate this knowledge and wild energy to the youth, decision makers and the other way around.
WE GROW
Frej needs to develop itself into a robust organisation to accommodate the the burning platform and energy, that green change still needs.
Initatives
Plant-Based Foods: Research and Development Strategy for a New Area of Growth in Denmark
Through this R&D strategy for plant-based food products, we outline the need for specific research and development that will make it possible to promote more plant-based food products under the ‘Made in Denmark’ brand. The strategy was drawn up by a new partnership comprising the Danish Agriculture and Food Council, the Vegetarian Society of Denmark, the think tank Frej and food industry players based on input from a number of the cluster’s undertakings and stakeholders. This Partnership gathers forces from farm to fork, from rural to urban and from across generations.
The Danish Legume Partnership
The Danish Legume Partnership was established in 2024 by the Think Tank Frej in collaboration with Lidl. The partnership is a committed community that connects the entire value chain to promote the Danish consumption of legumes and create a greener food culture.
With a focus on both climate and public health, we work for a more sustainable future, where legumes play a natural role in the daily meals of Danes.
Regenerative agriculture
Throughout 2024, Think Tank Frej has focused on regenerative agriculture through our porject funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The goal has been to explore the potential of regenerative agriculture as a viable solution for achieving food production that respects the planetary boundaries better in the future.
With this analysis and our 15 recommendations, we seek to provide a nuanced perspective on regenerative agriculture, highlighting both its potential and its challenges.
View them here:
“In Think Tank Frej we reserve the right to get smarter. Nobody has the answer to everything. We need to use each other’s differences and challenge our own perspectives to get smarter and find collaborative solutions.
We believe, that food production in Denmark once again can be an element that brings os together, no matter if your days are spent in a pig barn or office building.
We can only achieve this, if we dare to meet, talk and get smarter together!”
Background
From student politics to think tank
Frej was created from the spark from the student organisation Tværfagligt Fødevareforum (Interdisciplinary food forum) from University of Copenhagen. An organisation that held debates to discuss policies and topics in food production across majors to fight for more collaboration between between fields. The organisation’s goals to create dialogue across fields and opinions had to go further into the rest of society. To farmers, companies, NGOs, researchers, authorities, politicians and certainly not least the young people across fields of study and the country.
It was also on the back of this, that four young women, Marianne Petersen, Charlotte Clausen, Iben Krog Rasmussen and Marie-Louise Boisen Lendal, established Think Tank Frej, not to - as the name may suggest - put out heavy analysis’ and political recommendations, but dialogue, digestable knowledge and collaboration.
Today Frej is more than 40 volunteers and a secretariat of 18 employees, a board, an advisory board and a network of over 60 partners for sustainable action.
Where does the name ‘Frej’ come from?
In Nordic mythology ‘Frej’ or ‘Freyr’ is the god of crops, fertility, prosperity and peace. Since we in Think Tank Frej work with agriculture and food production, we thought that the name matched our focus.
The picture to the right is a bronze figurine, that is suspected to be picturing Frej. As a god of fertility, Frej is often pictured with an erect phallus, which explains why the statuette is most likely Frej.
