UC ANR Innovate was proud to sponsor and participate in the inaugural Food Frontier Innovation Tour, a multi-country journey through Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium alongside a delegation of Sacramento region leaders in June.

Gabriel Youtsey, chief innovation officer, and Hanif Houston, director of marketing and communications for UC ANR Innovate, represented UC ANR. Vice President Glenda Humiston joined the Copenhagen leg of the journey.

Together, we explored some of Europe’s most advanced food and ag innovation hubs, each offering a unique lens on what the future of food might look like. 

We began in Copenhagen, where we met with leading innovators in biotechnology, fermentation and food policy. At 21st.Bio and Spora, we saw how precision fermentation and fungal materials are driving new approaches to sustainable protein and packaging. The Novo Nordisk Foundation and its BioInnovation Institute shared their vision for advancing life sciences and food system transformation through flagship initiatives like Plant2Food and SmartField. We also visited DTU Biosustain and Novonesis to learn about breakthroughs in bioproduction and enzyme innovation. We capped the visit to Copenhagen with policy dialogue at Denmark’s Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries and a tour of EvodiaBio, a startup using fermentation to create natural aroma compounds for the food and beverage industry.

From there, we traveled to the Netherlands and Belgium.

At Wageningen University and the broader Food Valley ecosystem, we saw how deep public-private collaboration can accelerate global breakthroughs. In Naaldwijk, we toured the World Horti Center, where Dutch innovators are building climate-smart greenhouse systems designed for precision, efficiency and year-round production.

In Ghent, we walked the floors of the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant, where biotech startups scale from petri dish to production line. At Ghent University and the Flemish Institute for Biotechnology, VIB, we met researchers pushing the boundaries of plant science and sustainable ag. We tasted rooftop tomatoes at Agrotopia, explored Unilever’s Hive Innovation Center to see how food giants are reformulating for a plant-based future and toured Meatable’s cultivated meat lab for a glimpse of what might replace traditional livestock.

We also spent time in places that challenged our assumptions about what food systems can look like. At Ketelbroek, we walked through a regenerative food forest and explored how agriculture can align more closely with natural ecosystems. At De Stadsgroenteboer, we met with farmers reimagining urban production through no-dig methods and chef-driven crop selection. Along the way, we asked questions, exchanged ideas and built relationships with researchers, chefs, entrepreneurs and diplomats, all with a focus on translating these insights to our work in California.

Food Frontier Innovation Tour sponsors included Spring Food System, Oobli, Fulcrum Property, Foundation for California Community Colleges, American Pistachio Growers, City of Woodland, California,
Pacific Coast Producers and UCANR Innovate.

Many thanks to the Food Frontier team and our fellow delegates for an unforgettable exchange of ideas, partnerships and inspiration. We’re excited to bring these global learnings home to California. 

For more photos and insights, see https://www.linkedin.com/company/104835164/posts/.