As fundamental as food production is, innovation has been sorely lacking across the agri-food value chain. What is often referred to as our “global food system” is really a set of very siloed steps in a complex value chain. A handful of companies have played a primary role in each step, and their focus has been on optimizing their own box, often creating trade-offs to the overall system. To date, this approach has accommodated economies of scale, but it has also entrenched rigidity and inertia that restrict the nimbleness required to navigate rapidly evolving, and sometimes disruptive, macro forces in a way that maximizes long-term impact and value.

Cracks in the resiliency of our food system due to this inertia are evident everywhere. Efficiency has come at the expense of nutrition, leading to pervasive diet-related illness. The global pandemic disrupted a food supply chain previously believed to be durable and secure. Food price inflation has reached record levels, especially for animal- derived products. The war in Ukraine is poised to exacerbate massive nutrition insecurity and unravel reliance on global production systems. These issues are not transient. They’re not quickly solvable with more capital, or even peacetime…