The Yield Lab Institute (YLI) this week announced the Bezos Earth Fund as “catalytic funder” of its Global Cattle Innovation Platform (GCIP), which aims to de-risk and accelerate new solutions across the beef and dairy sectors. Financial terms of the deal, which is good for one year, are not disclosed.
The main goal of the GCIP platform will be to determine key challenges in the beef and dairy value chains, and to connect promising technologies with testing environments, expertise, and partnerships needed to get them on the path to commercialization.
Advancing producer-centric agtech
Agtech startups often struggle to validate technologies and products, thanks in no small part to limited capital and a lack of available testing environments.
YLI tackled this issue head-on when it took over the Wells Fargo Innovation incubator in 2025, rebranding it to the H.A.R.V.E.S.T. AgTech program and linking up with technical partners like North Carolina State University Plant Sciences Initiative and University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources.
The idea is to connect chosen startups with partners such as these in order to de-risk and advance their concepts.
Up to now the program has been predominately focused on crops, Stephanie Regagnon, executive director of The Yield Lab Institute tells AgFunderNews.
GCIP will expand the H.A.R.V.E.S.T. model into cattle, a move that came about organically, according to Regagnon.
“About a year ago, we started conversations with stakeholders [to determine] what a program would look like and what would be valuable in the cattle sector. Those conversations just advanced really quickly.”
The GCIP program will apply the same format as the H.A.R.V.E.S.T. incubator, with different technical partners and funders, the first of which is Bezos Earth Fund.
Importantly, says Regagnon, the program will emphasize putting producers “at the center of the conversation from the beginning” of any potential technology or innovation.
Cattle producers currently grapple with high input costs, smaller herds, and increased pressure to improve both productivity and sustainability. In the coming months, identify which of these (or other) areas will be key focus areas for the GCIP program.
“We believe the most meaningful innovations are those that work for producers, strengthening their bottom line, supporting responsible stewardship of resources, and creating lasting value across the industry,” says Regagnon.
“Even the most promising technology has to pencil out and hold up in the real world,” Jackie McClaskey, president of the American Royal Association and GCIP external advisory board member, said in a statement. “The industry leaders around this table understand that. If it doesn’t work for the producer, it doesn’t work.”
Kansas City will serve as the GCIP platform’s home base, which Regagnon suggests is appropriate given the region’s deep ties to the cattle industry. Missouri is a top cattle producer among US states, and in recent years has advanced its work in areas like genetics and breeding technology.
Foundational funding
The Bezos Earth Fund grant will enable several things, says Regagnon.
First and foremost, it will help YLI select the right technical partners for the research and validation partnerships.
“Every startup we choose will have a research collaboration that institution or institutions,” she says. “We know what we’re doing in crops, but we want to make sure we understand what on-farm or on-ranch validation looks like.”
The grant will also help YLI build an advisory board, foster networks in the US and Brazil, and and get ready to launch the cattle program’s first cohort.
