![]() Throughout his career, Niemann has delivered growth, operational excellence and value creation across all his business endeavors, including at his most recent ventures, Prime Dirt Midwest and Asido Biologicals, where he’ll remain an investor and board director. As part of a 20+ year career at Cargill, Niemann was also the President of Cargill’s Turkey & Cooked Meats division, and before that, its Food Distribution business. Niemann is an experienced business leader, entrepreneur, and regenerative agriculture farmer who previously held the position of President of Protein Ingredients & International at Cargill, one of the world’s leading food and agriculture companies. Subscribe here to make sure you don’t miss it.DECATUR, Ark.-( BUSINESS WIRE)- Cooks Venture, a vertically-integrated poultry business with proprietary genetics for a slower-growth, pasture-raised bird, today announced the appointment of John Niemann as its Chief Executive Officer. ![]() On the other side of the revenue spectrum, Cooks sees the opportunity to work with companies or farmers interested in proliferating the Cooks Venture genetic lines.īecause these chickens can handle a more diverse diet, and are more heat resistant with stronger immune systems, Cooks could partner with farmers in areas with extreme heat or regions with food shortages.Ĭooks today announced that it has secured $50 million in debt financing from PIUS, which insures the debt against a growing tech company’s intellectual property.įWIW, we recently sat down with Wadiak to record an episode of the FOUND podcast. ![]() ![]() Over time, Cooks wants to license its IP around regenerative agriculture to farmers who grow chicken feed, contracting them out to grow more biodiverse crops and ultimately feed Cooks Venture chickens. It tastes better, too, according to Wadiak, but that’s not the only (or most important) benefit.Ĭooks has its own farm to grow its feed and its own processing plant for the chickens it raises, partnering with a handful of retailers to sell its chickens to consumers (you can also buy one through the Cooks Venture website). It starts with the chickens themselves.Ĭooks Venture has done over a decade of research around chicken genetics to land on a proprietary pedigree line, the Pioneer, which is selectively bred to grow slower with a stronger immune system and much stronger gut health. On a smaller scale, this can lead to bland-tasting meat, but it also leaves the country’s supply of chicken open to being decimated by a virus.Ĭooks Venture, founded by Blue Apron co-founder Matt Wadiak, is looking to dismantle the existing system, one step at a time. It props up a conventional agricultural apparatus that focuses on corn and soy production, not to mention fosters a system where the vast majority of chicken available to consumers has been systemically inbred, lacking genetic diversity. And yet, the system in place to breed and feed and raise all this chicken is incredibly detrimental to our overall well-being. Chicken is the most consumed meat in the United States and the world.
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