Grassroots

This project is part of the Ontwerpkracht & Transities programme, which is funded through PPS-i funding from the Ministry of Economic Affairs via TKI CLICKNL.

Grassroots maps Minimal Viable Ecosystems around start-ups in the agri-food sector. It explores how these ecosystems create societal impact within the food transition, where they encounter obstacles and where new perspectives are needed to increase that impact. Designers and other partners are invited to contribute to solutions that help start-ups move forward and support systemic change.

What are MVEs?

A Minimum Viable Ecosystem (MVE) is the smallest possible configuration of actors, activities, and relationships in which value is created for everyone involved. In an MVE, parties work together toward a shared mission without any single party extracting value disproportionately. It’s a workable structure that provides space to experiment, learn, and grow toward a broader, sustainable ecosystem.

Why we need designers

The food transition requires more than technical innovation alone. We need creative thinking power to tell new stories, shape collaborations, and redesign systems. Designers and creatives can contribute fresh perspectives and design approaches that help impact driven startups move forward and support system change—from narrative development and visual identity to designing processes and collaboration models.

The MVEs we’re developing

Within Grassroots, we will be working on three MVEs contributing to the food transition with the titles:

• Food stays food
• Marketplace for alternative ingredients
• Healthy food landscape around ‘densely populated’ communities

During the period of two years, Grassroots will follow three startups, each contributing to the food transition in its own way:

Magie Creations, (part of the ‘food stays food’ MVE) mission is to create healthier food that produces less waste and it connects food products with meaningful stories for conscious consumers. Drawing on their expertise in ingredients based on brewers’ grain, they demonstrate how taste, health, sustainability, and affordability come together in compelling food concepts.

Grassa (part of the ‘marketplace for alternative ingredients’ MVE) mission is to enable autonomy for the Netherlands from soy import by unlocking the full nutritional value of grass through a natural process of pressing, heating, and filtering. This creates both high-quality feed for cows and other ruminants, as well as plant-based ingredients for humans and animals. Grassa wants to help dairy farmers by reducing pressure on animal efficiency through increasing the efficient use of grass and grassland as a raw material—with less waste of nutrients and a positive impact on sustainability, soil health, and CO2 reduction.

Circlefarming (part of the ‘healthy food landscape’ MVE) enables local, diverse, and plant-based food production on relatively small fields, reconnecting people with their food—from working the land to consuming locally. At the same time, it wants to support farmers in transitioning to regenerative agriculture, strengthen biodiversity and soil health, and contribute to the creation of green, resilient landscapes where nature, agriculture, and communities come together.