Why Jeff Bezos’ climate fund just invested $30 million to build ‘sustainable protein’ in North Carolina

North Carolina might not seem like an obvious place for a research hub dedicated to breakthroughs in lab-grown meat. After all, the Tar Heel state is a leader in producing meat the old fashioned way: Its top agricultural commodity is chickens. It produces more turkeys than any other state, along with about 10% of the nation’s hogs and pigs. 



And yet, this is where the Bezos Earth Fund has chosen to launch its first “ Center for Sustainable Protein.” The Jeff Bezos-backed philanthropic foundation announced recently that North Carolina State University in Raleigh will get $30 million over five years to create a biomanufacturing hub that will research ways to make “alternative proteins” cheaper and tastier so that we can keep feeding the world’s growing population without decimating the planet . 



The school attracted the Bezos Earth Fund due its combination of engineering school and agriculture college with a food science program, which helped the college stand out from the 40 or so other universities that were up for the funding. Its proximity to the neighboring educational powerhouses of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University was a bonus, too. “It’s just got that diversity of approaches and perspectives that is conducive to breakthroughs,” says Andy Jarvis, director of future of food at the Bezos Earth Fund. “Most of the best things in science happen when disciplines work together.”



But the fact remains that North Carolina is, as Jarvis himself put it, “hog country.” And in recent months, politicians like Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, have framed lab-grown meat as a threat to America’s farmers. “We stand with agriculture,” DeSantis said after signing a state law banning anyone from manufacturing or selling cultivated meat made from animal cells.



Alabama quickly followed Florida’s lead, and other states, including Arizona and Tennessee, are eyeing similar laws. There aren’t any such bills under consideration in North Carolina, but the state’s Republican-led legislature has a veto-proof majority , meaning that if it wanted to pass a lab-grown meat ban, it very well could.



Jarvis says before that happens, the plan is to change the narrative by busting the myth that fake meat is somehow anti-farmer, and pitch the alternative protein sector as the economic opportunity of our time. 



“What we’re just trying to do is take the edge of the conversation, because it’s unnecessarily polarized,” Jarvis says. “To think that farmers are going to be going out of business . . . I can’t see any scenario in which that happens.” 



And many of the biggest meat companies—including JBS Foods , Cargill , and Tyson —are investing in similar advances. “They see this as something that’s complementary to the market. They don’t see it as a threat.” 



And neither should people working in agriculture, he adds. To help dispel fears, the Fund will work to engage farmers and other key stakeholders. This could mean literally sitting down face-to-face and talking through any concerns. The Fund will collect and present data showing that a market for alternative proteins can exist alongside a market for meat.



“There will continue to be enormous demand for animal-source foods,” Jarvis says. “You can be an absolute powerhouse in production of pork and poultry, and you can be a powerhouse in terms of production of alternative proteins. It’s not either-or. It’s a win-win for North Carolina.”



So far, the waters are calm. In the several weeks since the announcement went out about NCSU, Jarvis says the response has been mostly positive, with a few hints of wary curiosity from some people in the community. Crucially, politicians in the state have been supportive of the move, he says, suggesting a knee-jerk ban isn’t likely. 



“The worst thing that could happen is you kill the innovation before it’s even produced any results,” Jarvis says. “Frankly, that’s not the American way.”