INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Cooks Venture, the agtech company looking to revolutionize the chicken industry, has today announced the close of a $4 million funding round
led by Golden West Food Group.Cooks Venture has been working in stealth for many years, but launched onto the scene in 2018 with a plan to
reshape agriculture from the ground up
And the key to that strategy? Chickens.Cooks Venture geneticists and scientists have spent years isolating genetic lines of chickens to
create a new, proprietary breed, called the Pioneer, a type of heirloom chicken
processed in just over five weeks) and use a three-phase feed system for growth
This system, and these breeds, are a big reason why animal activist groups express so much concern over the well-being of chicken livestock,
often explaining that the birds are too young to carry around all the weight they put on so quickly.Cooks Venture looked to science to solve
This means that the Pioneer chickens are truly free range, wandering around the farm
It also means that these chickens, with a digestive tract that can handle a diverse diet and the ability to exercise, live a healthier life,
are higher in Omega-3 and taste better than your average Cobb 500 or Ross 308, according to the company.But the chickens themselves are only
A byproduct of the proliferation of these fast-growing chickens produced by Cobb and Aviagen is that they have to eat, and their diet is
That means that farmers must produce a great deal of one or two crops to feed the millions of chickens out there
The result is that our agricultural land is not being used in an efficient or eco-friendly way.In fact, Cooks Venture founder Matt Wadiak
says that the vast majority of our crop production in the United States is used for ethanol or animal feed, which indexes toward corn and
The USDA says, of feed grains, that corn accounts for more than 95% of total production and use in the country.Many farmers would love to
implement regenerative agricultural practices, a big part of which includes creating a biodiverse ecosystem with many different crops, but
who would they sell the extra, low-demand crops to?The answer now can be Cooks Venture
With strong digestive systems, Cooks Venture chickens can eat a diet that comes from a more biodiverse farm
Moreover, when Cooks Venture is ready to expand globally, the chickens are able to eat crops local to the ecosystems of emerging nations,
such as yucca and quinoa.Cooks Venture has its own farm, and works with farm partners to set up regenerative agricultural practices around
producing Pioneer chicken feed
Cooks also does its own processing at its own plant.Golden West Food Group is a manufacturer of meat products and value-add food products
distribution partner for the brand.Through the partnership with GWFG, Cooks can start to ramp up commercialization of its chickens, which
are currently sold through some retailers, on the Cooks website and on FreshDirect.As part of the announcement, Cooks Venture is also
bringing on Ankur Agrawal as chief financial officer
Wadiak, a co-founder at Blue Apron, worked with Agrawal back in the Blue Apron, days and says that his understanding of agricultural finance
It has been updated for accuracy.
