LOOKING AHEAD: The Green Gold Rush
Published February 10, 2026
From HORIZONS: The food foresight platform powered by Roquette
Exploring Possible Futures for the Food System
As the future of food continues to shift, HORIZONS is Roquette’s foresight platform designed to help food and nutrition businesses turn uncertainty into actionable strategies. It is based on four key steps: scanning, trend analysis, scenario planning, and strategic recommendations. Connecting trend analysis to the creation of realistic future visions, while maintaining a balance between complexity and practicality.
In this platform, scenarios provide a powerful framework for anticipating change, built around two critical and uncertain dimensions.
The first axis centers on consumer behavior—whether innovation is received reactively or proactively. And the second axis distinguishes between regulation-led and market-driven approaches.
Together, these axes define the industry’s future, shaping 4 distinct scenarios for strategic insight.
Scenario Spotlight: The Green Gold Rush
- What if the food industry’s competition favored eye-catching novelty over lasting sustainability? …would you chase every trend or risk getting left behind?
- And what if powerful tech consortiums shaped most consumer choices?...would your brand have a voice or fade into the background?
Take a closer look at one of our four HORIZONS scenarios: The Green Gold Rush.
By 2035, the food landscape is shaped by dynamic, market-driven innovation paired with proactive consumption, defining the era of The Green Gold Rush.
Here, tech-powered ingenuity and consumer excitement set the pace, pushing boundaries in taste, health, and experience.
Key Features of the Nutritional Accord
Consumer Empowerment: Consumption is proactive, informed, and lifestyle-driven, with food as a form of self-expression integrated into digital ecosystems.
Innovation Boom: The private sector competition drives hyper-personalized food technologies, such as computational food design and microbiome-centered nutrition.
Geopolitical Fragmentation: The global food landscape is fractured, with localized innovation bubbles due to protectionist trade policies.
Regulatory Lag: Regulation struggles to keep pace with innovation, resulting in inconsistent food labeling and health standards.
Environmental Efforts: Sustainability efforts are siloed, driven by consumer demand but failing to achieve systemic change.
Why use scenarios?
Scenarios offer a structured framework for the food industry and its stakeholders to anticipate key drivers of change and uncertainty. By examining future visions, organizations can adopt a forward-thinking approach to innovation. Scenarios are more than predictions—they’re tools for action.