From July 7th to July 11th, a delegation headed by the Danish Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries visited the United States. The delegation consisted of the Minister, Dan Jørgensen and Chief Veterinary Officer, Per Henriksen.

In Washington, the Minister was hosted by Ambassador Peter Taksoe-Jensen at a working lunch with Arla and Danish Crown on July 8th. Meetings were also held with Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, the World Bank, and Congresswoman Louise Slaughter.

The delegation had also an inspiring meeting with White House Chef Sam Kass, who is also Executive Director of Let’s Move and a White House Senior Advisor for Food and Nutrition Policy. The group had the opportunity to tour Mrs. Obama’s White House garden which Mr. Kass helped create.
The delegation then traveled to Iowa where the Minister met with Governor Terry Branstad and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey. The delegation visited Iowa State University and met with the Iowa Pork Producers Association. The Danish Honorary Consul, Lynette Rasmussen, kindly hosted a dinner for the delegation.

After a wonderful visit to Iowa, the delegation went to New York City. Upon arrival the group lunched at “Luksus” in connection with the Danish microbrewery bar “Tørst” in Brooklyn and met with chef Daniel Burns. Later the group visited with Senior Vice President Jeffrey Lee of the Economic Development Corporation/FRESH.

FRESH is an initiative of Mayor Bloomberg’s Five-Borough Economic Opportunity Plan, which promotes the establishment and retention of neighborhood grocery stores in underserved communities by providing zoning and financial incentives to eligible grocery store operators and developers.
On Friday July 11th, the delegation visited the “Urban Farming” school project “TheGreenBronxMachine”. The John V Lindsay Wildcat Charter School located in the Bronx has an Urban Agriculture and Culinary program for 9th and 10th grade students. The group rounded off the visit to New York by meeting with the owners of the restaurant “Copenhagen”, touring the Union Square Green market and visiting Whole Foods.