Groundbreakers has issued a call for proposals for a new $10,000 grant for innovations that will enable the ag and food system to move toward more sustainable plant based protein, with a focus on lower capital processing innovations.
Grant Applications are Now Open
GroundBreakers has issued a call for proposals for a new $10,000 grant for innovations that will propel the ag and food industries toward plant based protein. Our focus will be on lower capital processing for plant based protein ingredients, increasing the capacity of the industry to shift toward a more climate-friendly plant-based economy.
A potential bottleneck in the widespread adoption of a plant-based protein ecosystem is the availability of small scale processing of emerging plant proteins for innovators to create consumer products or for consumers to use directly. Competitive grant applicants will demonstrate how they could use $10,000 to demonstrate, prototype, or model a smaller scale method for turning raw crops into ready-to-use plant based protein ingredients for rising and established food manufacturers.
In providing funding and expert consultation to grant recipients, GroundBreakers Funders, who are large, established, and innovative entities in agrifood, hope to learn more about the processes or methods that could reduce the cost of processing plant based proteins and ultimately increase the capacity of the industry to move toward plant based.
“It would be interesting to have a commercial-oriented manufacturing option that sits between 'pilot' plants/lines and full-scale operations. This could enable early MVP testing, regional launches or commercial viability of niche ingredients/products.”
- GroundBreakers Funder
“This is a bottleneck to scaling up PBP. It’s emerged as a top priority from industry meetings we’ve been part of in the last year. We have done some work here with other partners, but more needs to be done.”
- GroundBreakers Funder
The target applicant for the first GroundBreakers grant cycle is an individual or startup with an innovative, smaller scale (lower capital), approach for processing raw crops into manufacturer-ready plant based protein products. This innovator may have a food science, agronomy, or engineering background, or be an entrepreneur in the space. The results of this project will be published to drive industry consideration and adoption, so the innovator’s entity should not be in “stealth mode”.
Grant applications are due by Friday, September 30, 11:59 pm CST. An informational webinar for prospective applicants will be held on September 21. Click here to learn more.
To apply for the grant, please visit https://www.theyieldlabinstitute.org/plant-based-protein-grant.