Denmark is being pushed by the organic trend, so the Organic Land Association went to the new world champion to learn.

For years, Denmark has been known as the world champion in ecology, but in 2024, Switzerland pushed us off the throne. Therefore, representatives from the Organic Association recently traveled to the Alpine country to examine the organic market more closely. "If we are to be inspired and learn from others, we should learn from the best. And when you look at the market figures from FiBL (The Swiss Research Institute for Organic Agriculture), Switzerland is the best. It is the country with the highest percentage of organic products and the highest per capita consumption of organic goods. So they must be doing something right there," says Dennis Hvam, International Market Manager at the Organic Association. On Friday, October 2nd, he combines market data with the main impressions from the tour in Switzerland in a free webinar, where participants can learn more about what Denmark can learn from the world's leading organic nation and what the Swiss retail market looks like. According to Dennis Hvam, the experiences from Switzerland are useful for both actors in the Danish retail market and for organic producers who are willing to export to a country where a large part of grocery sales occur via private label, and where there is a strong focus on premium products. Two goals of the trip The main objectives of the trip to Switzerland were to identify some of the growth drivers that Denmark can improve upon and to find opportunities for Danish exports to the world's leading organic market, which is dominated by two large retail players. According to Bio Suisse, Coop Switzerland accounted for 43% and Migros for 31% of the Swiss organic retail market in 2025. This means that the two retail giants together hold about three-quarters of the market, where discount sales are not as prominent as in Denmark. "Switzerland is a small organic haven in the middle of Europe, but the country is not a member of the EU and has implemented various rules to protect its own agricultural production," says Dennis Hvam. He mentions mushrooms, green proteins, and various grain types as potential export products but emphasizes that a detailed analysis is needed to identify specific opportunities in the Alpine country. They have cracked the code The Danish spice producer Mill & Mortar, however, has solved the export challenge. According to the company's Export Manager Hanne Sønderholm, who has previously run a business in Switzerland, exporting to Switzerland is no more difficult than exporting to other non-EU countries like Norway and the UK. "In Switzerland, quality is highly valued, and the country has a well-developed organic market, but the Swiss are not impressed just because you bring a Danish product, so it can be difficult to get into the large nationwide chains that focus heavily on private label," says Hanne Sønderholm. She reminds that the country includes areas with Italian-, French-, and German-speaking residents. Mill & Mortar has a strong brand of its own and primarily exports to specialty stores in Switzerland. For this reason, their export volume is not as large as to other markets where the Danish spice brand is present in larger supermarket chains. "But if you have a good product, you shouldn't be afraid to look toward Switzerland," says the export manager.