Food Planet Prize Grant

Food Planet Prize Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: The Curt Bergfors Foundation
Amount: US $2,000,000
Last Updated: February 12, 2025

Summary

The Curt Bergfors Food Planet Prize is the largest environmental award globally, offering 2 million USD annually to a single winner. It aims to promote transformative projects within the food system to combat environmental degradation caused by current eating habits. Unlike traditional awards that honor past successes, this prize focuses on supporting innovative initiatives that have the potential to create significant positive change. The selection process emphasizes collaboration across the entire food value chain, ensuring diverse perspectives in decision-making.

Overview

NOTE: Nominations are welcome at any time and we review them on an ongoing basis. The Prize By rewarding 2 million USD to one single winner each year, the Curt Bergfors Food Planet Prize is the world’s largest environmental award. Because nothing we do impacts the environment more negatively than the way we eat, the Prize can only go to projects within the food system.To save the Food Planet, we must accelerate change.The Food Planet Prize differs from other awards in many ways, not just because of its size.  The two things that we believe are most unusual about us, and of which we are probably the proudest, are the types of projects we award and how we decide on our winners.First of all, unlike most prizes, we primarily seek to award those who will succeed, and radically change the world for the better, if only they get the chance—rather than those who have already succeeded. If you think about most other prizes, they often work the other way around. This isn’t a bad thing, but is perhaps a little bit inefficient if your goal is to catalyze rapid change.Second, we believe that the only way to transform our food system into one that can sustainably support us in harmony with the environment is to work together across the whole food value chain. People tend to agree on this in principle, though almost everywhere you look, actions fail to reflect this belief.For us, the need for a holistic focus sits at the center of everything we do, and our vetting process is designed to represent the whole food system. This is illustrated by our jury, with its equal split in representation between people working at the cutting edge of scientific research, policy, business, and practical work in food. The vote of a world-leading climate scientist, a farmer, or a chef carries equal weight in deciding who will win the Prize.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. Our nominations process is open all year around and we welcome any initiative making the world a better place through the food system. You can nominate something amazing that you are working on yourself or let us know of someone else who you think is doing incredible things. The prize can be awarded to individuals or organisations in both commercial and non-commercial settings.