What are the different types of sharpening stones?

At our July market in Skjolds Plads, we hosted a conversation at Grønt Marked titled “The Transformative Power of Farmers Markets.”  To explore this important topic, we invited an incredible group of panelists who, through their work, research, and advocacy, could deeply engage with the complexities of our food systems—and we couldn’t have made a better choice. 

The discussion was inspiring, thought-provoking, and deeply informative. It left us at Grønt Marked with many reflections and important questions—particularly around food accessibility, food justice, and the true cost of food. These are issues that have shaped our internal conversations since the very beginning. 

How can we simultaneously address social injustice, healthy diets, sustainable farming, and equitable access to land? How do we navigate the trade-offs between these goals – and why are there trade-offs? How can we ensure that good, nutritious, and sustainably produced food is accessible to everyone, while accounting for its true cost? Who should carry the responsibility for making this possible? And, most importantly, why do all these questions become even more urgent when we speak about the transformative potential of farmers markets? 

 

To begin addressing these questions, we’ve launched numerous projects over the years—some more successful than others—aimed at improving food accessibility, availability, and food justice. Has it been enough? Clearly not. 

There’s still a long way to go before we can fully unlock the transformative power of alternative food networks—like farmers markets, community supporter agriculture, food co-ops, and community food initiatives—to truly shift our food systems toward justice, sustainability, and equity. 

But where does political responsibility fit into all this? When so many people cannot afford healthy, sustainable food, how should policymakers respond? What structural changes are needed to ensure that good food, grown in ways that respect the land, is not a privilege, but a right? 

Grønt Marked was founded as a non-profit, volunteer-based association with a clear mission: to challenge dominant models of food production, distribution, and consumption—proving that alternatives are possible and advocating that they should be preferred. We set out to provide small-scale farmers with a dignified platform to sell their products—work that is too often undervalued—and to connect them directly with consumers. In doing so, we hoped to build healthy food communities, restore food knowledge, and reconnect the countryside with the city. 

We felt something essential was missing in Copenhagen. And although farmers markets have not been a strong part of Danish food culture, we believed that, as a group of expats, we could contribute something meaningful by bringing elements of our food traditions into our new home. 

Six years later—and countless hours of unpaid volunteer work—we now run weekly farmers markets that generate over 4 million DKK in revenue, all of which is directly reinvested in local economies. Simply put: every krone spent at Grønt Marked supports local farmers and producers who are working to build a better food system. 

Or, to put it another way: 92% of every krone spent at Grønt Marked goes directly to the farmer.  

Why does this matter? Because these are the same farmers who, due to their scale and methods of production, receive little (if any) public subsidies, while shouldering higher production costs. Meanwhile, a significant portion of the food eaten in Denmark is produced cheaply, heavily subsidised by public funds, and often linked to exploitative or illegal labor practices. These realities affect pricing—and lead us back to a central question: What is the true cost of food, and who can afford it? 

An important point here, raised powerfully during the conversation at the market, relates to the question of why products (vegetables, cheeses, eggs, honeys etc.) generated sustainably and respectfully and sold at farmers markets are relatively costly compared to their cheap counterparts in the supermarket, making them unaffordable to some. The point that needs to be hammered home is not that produce is too expensive at farmers markets but that it is too cheap in the supermarkets, betraying a reliance on practices that exploit the land, the soil, and often the worker.  

So, critically: Who should bear the burden of making good, healthy food accessible and affordable to all? 

Should it fall on small-scale farmers who are already struggling to make a living, and who face ongoing barriers to land access? Farmers who choose to work with the environment, not against it, to secure a future for the next generations—and to make farming appealing to young people? Should it fall on grassroots initiatives like Grønt Marked, which rely entirely on voluntary efforts and are driven by values of care, solidarity, and community? 

Perhaps the answer is that we must all hold these questions close whenever we sow a field, organise a market, host a community dinner, or work to establish any social project. But politicians cannot escape their primary responsibility. Leaving these challenges to citizens and grassroots initiatives is, in itself, a political decision—one that reflects either a lack of capacity or a lack of will to address issues of food justice and sustainability at their root. 

Some concrete intakes from the discussion that may help solve some of these issues: 

For Consumers 
If you have the privilege of choosing what food to eat, own that privilege—and use it to support farmers and producers committed to food justice and production methods that respect the soil. Your money can help sustain people who are building fairer, more sustainable food systems. 

If you have extra resources to share, know that there are plenty of grassroots initiatives working toward food justice—consider supporting them. 

Ask your local politicians what concrete steps they are taking—and which initiatives they are backing—to promote healthier, fairer, and more sustainable food environments in the city. And make them accountable of the increasing number of food discount stores in our neighborhoods; a structural issue that isn’t just connected to individual consumer choices but mostly to market forces— underpinned by lack of transparency, power consolidation and inadequate investment in sharing knowledge about just, nutritious and equitable food. 

 

For Policymakers 

Prioritise land reform and take bold steps to ensure access for young and small-scale farmers. 

Redistribute subsidies more equitably to support sustainable, agroecological, regenerative farming. 

Recognise that small-scale farming is a vital part of the food system, not a hobby or fringe activity. 
Remove VAT on locally and sustainably grown fruits and vegetables—a widely supported policy advocated by many food system experts. 

 

For us at Grønt Marked 

We will work harder to make Grønt Marked a welcoming space for everyone and to dispel the myth that the farmers market is only for members of the white affluent classes in search of Sunday ‘hygge’. 

We’re committed to strengthening collaborations with other organisations and community groups working on shared challenges—because together, we are stronger. 

We’ll also seek new ways and funding to relaunch our Care Bag project, an initiative designed to distribute the products sold at the market to people with fewer economic resources. 

 

Thank you to Sophia Wathne, Caroline Lundsteen, Ida-Marie Mitterwald, and Se-Eun Lee for an inspiring and thought-provoking discussion.