Food System Research Fund

The Food System Research Fund has announced an RFP seeking proposals focused on the economics and market dynamics of alternative plant based proteins. The fund intends to fund several projects in 2020 with an average grant size of $50,000. Applications are due April 30th.

Example topics:

• What factors impact the cost of plant based food products (e.g. oat milk, Beyond Meat) in retail environments outside of the cost of production (e.g. distributors, retail market up, etc.)?
• What market conditions would have to exist for a retailer to sell plant based food products at a lower price than an analogous animal product?
• How might the price of plant based products be influenced by the ownership of the company (e.g. publicly traded versus owned by a larger food business that offers both animal products and plant based products).
• What is the price elasticity of demand for various animal proteins and how might that be effected by availability of plant based products?