Food System Innovations Awarded Pioneering Grant from Bezos Earth Fund’s AI Grand Challenge for Climate and Nature

Food System Innovations, a philanthropic impact platform investing in a humane and sustainable future of food, is proud to announce it has been selected as one of the inaugural grantees in the Bezos Earth Fund’s groundbreaking AI Grand Challenge for Climate and Nature. Food System Innovations (FSI) received a $50,000 Phase I grant to advance pioneering work at the intersection of artificial intelligence and sustainable proteins.

In partnership with researcher Anna Thomas, a computer science PhD candidate at Stanford University, FSI is building a model to accelerate alternative protein product development to drive wider adoption of more sustainable foods. In a paper published in February 2025, Thomas and her collaborators found Large Language Models (LLMs) can significantly reduce the time food scientists spend revising product formulations. Specifically, food science experts estimated that collaboration with an LLM can reduce time spent by 45% on average, compared to 22% for collaboration with an expert human food scientist.

The AI Grand Challenge, launched with a commitment of up to $100 million in funding, supports bold, AI-powered ideas to combat climate change, halt biodiversity loss, and protect our planet’s future. FSI’s project was chosen for its innovative potential and real-world impact.

“I’m excited to collaborate with FSI on the development of an open-source AI assistant for food scientists,” stated Anna Thomas, computer science PhD candidate at Stanford. “Our recent results, accepted to the International Conference on Machine Learning this year, suggest that LLMs, combined with other algorithms and datasets, can support a sustainable protein transition. In particular, our results indicate that LLMs can be useful for revising formulations in response to sensory panel feedback.”

The AI Grand Challenge focused on sustainable proteins, power grid optimization, and biodiversity conservation — as well as other visionary wildcard solutions. FSI’s mission is to accelerate the transition to sustainable proteins by uniting science, markets, and society to create better food choices for everyone. FSI advances this mission through a diversity of programs including NECTAR, which has built the world’s largest publicly-available database on the sensory performance of plant-based meats and balanced protein products.

“The protein transition will be driven by taste, price and convenience. Our goal with NECTAR is not just to hand brands sensory data but to actually empower them with a path forward,” shares Caroline Cotto, Director of NECTAR, an initiative of FSI. “We’re excited to partner with Anna and the Bezos Earth Fund team to make it easier for sustainable protein companies to implement NECTAR’s findings through their R&D processes, and ultimately bring consumers great tasting food that’s better for people and the planet.”

Each Phase I grant recipient is now eligible to participate in Phase II of the Challenge, where up to 15 projects will be selected to receive implementation grants of $2 million to scale their solutions over the next two years.

To learn more about the impact LLMs and AI can make on sustainable food systems, read Anna Thomas’ research here.

About Food System Innovations
Food System Innovations (FSI) is a philanthropic impact platform investing in a humane and sustainable future of food. As an impact platform, FSI is a strategic hub that accelerates change by combining multiple tools and approaches, acting as both a funder and operator, directly implementing programs while empowering others through grants, investments, and capacity building. Learn more at www.fsi.org.

About NECTAR
NECTAR is a nonprofit initiative of Food System Innovations dedicated to accelerating the protein transition by leveraging large-scale sensory data to improve the taste of alternative proteins. NECTAR’s mission is to empower the alternative protein industry by providing actionable data and fostering collaboration. Through its research and awards programs, NECTAR supports brands in enhancing consumer satisfaction and driving market growth. By focusing on taste, NECTAR aims to drive meaningful market adoption and accelerate the transition to a more sustainable food system. Visit nectar.org to learn more.

About The Bezos Earth Fund
The Bezos Earth Fund is helping transform the fight against climate change with the largest ever philanthropic commitment to climate and nature protection. Jeff Bezos has committed $10 billion to protect nature and address climate change. By providing funding and expertise, we partner with organizations to accelerate innovation, break down barriers to success and create a more equitable and sustainable world. To learn more about the Bezos Earth Fund, visit: bezosearthfund.org.

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Rachel Stoczko

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PR for Food System Innovations (FSI)

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