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Jake Cacciapaglia
Head of Commercialization at Living Carbon - Plant Biotechnology - On a mission to unf*ck the planet
Jake Cacciapaglia is the Head of Commercialization at Living Carbon, a biotech company focused on engineering faster-growing, more durable trees to combat climate change.12 He joined Living Carbon in July 2021 and is based in the Boston, Massachusetts area.1
Prior to his role at Living Carbon, Jake held several positions in the biotech and digital health sectors:
- Head of Commercial U.S. at Sano Genetics (Nov 2020 - Jul 2021)
- Head of Business Development at Nebula Genomics (May 2018 - Oct 2020)
- VP of Media & Partnerships at ASICS Digital (Mar 2016 - Sep 2018)
- Various roles at RunKeeper, including Director of Global Sales and Director of Business Development (2010 - 2016)
Jake has a background in entrepreneurship, having co-founded DartBoston, an organization focused on enabling early-stage entrepreneurs to found and grow technology companies in Boston.1 He has experience in business development, partnerships, and commercialization in the biotech and health technology sectors.
At Living Carbon, Jake is part of a team working on innovative solutions to enhance carbon capture and storage in trees, contributing to the company's mission of fighting climate change through biotechnology.12
Highlights
Below is copy paste from an email I sent earlier today. To me it represents important coalescing that's happening in sustainable ag + land-use efficiency + agroforestry + role of biotechnology. . .
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During COP28 UAE this week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that U.S. will participate in the UAE's declaration to promote sustainable agriculture, citing demand for food is likely to increase by 50% by 2050 and that crop yields could drop by as much as 30% in the same time period with escalating climate crisis.
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McKinsey & Company's paper on step-change requirement in land-use efficiency to keep up with food and fuel production with expanding population. Estimating that by 2030, the world will need additional cropland of at least 70 to 80 Mha to satisfy our needs for food, fuel, and nature.
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$60M USDA grant for Expanding Agroforestry — 30,000-acre initiative in the U.S. to demonstrate how agroforestry as sustainable ag intervention can help build climate resilience in crops and improve yields. The Nature Conservancy. Example: windbreaks in broad-acre agricultural crops (e.g. soy, corn...etc) can increase yields by 13-20% — U.S. Forest Service 2023 report
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Article on role of biotechnology breakthroughs (e.g. gene editing) as a climate change solution by Bill Anderson in Fast Company — "we don’t have the time that traditional crop breeding takes—upwards of a decade—to make the crops we rely on better adapted to a hotter planet. Gene editing shortens that time frame to months, because it allows plant scientists to make precise changes to a specific area of the crop’s genome." We share the belief that to create a more sustainable future we need to work together to make our ecosystems more resilient as they face unprecedented climate pressure.
Excited to be part of helping this narrative continue to unfold to support our planet 🌎 by planting more Living Carbon trees 🌳.
The American Farmland Trust and Sierra View Solutions published a study on the adoption of agricultural carbon programs with some recommendations. Here's my hot take/recap:
👩🌾 Agriculture is a major contributor of GHG emissions in the US. It accounts for 9.4% of the country's emissions, which amounts to 598.1 million tonnes (MtCO2e) annually.
📈 There is significant potential to expand climate-smart practices through agricultural carbon programs. Yet, currently, less than 15% (132 million acres) of the 900 million farmland acres reported to the Farm Service Agency have participated in the largest USDA programs that incentivize practices with lower emissions.
💰 Economics are the main driving factor for producers and current prices are not yet attractive enough to drive adoption at scale. However, as more robust programs come about such as the USDA's Climate-Smart Commodities Partnerships program with $3 billion and The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) providing $19.5 billion for conservation programs over five years are creating new market opportunities for climate-smart commodities produced by farmers, ranchers, and forest owners. Also, demand by 70 of the top food and agriculture companies in the U.S. who have either committed or set science-based targets (according to the Science Based Targets initiative), including Cargill, PepsiCo, and General Mills is putting upward pressure on carbon prices.
Finally, what we get excited about at Living Carbon are the opportunities to expand climate-smart ag practices with the following interventions identified by USDA-NRCS to reduce or avoid emissions of GHGs: (think of these as add-ons to cover crops and no-till, low-till) 🌳 Buffers, wetland, grassland management, and tree planting on working lands 🌳 Agroforestry and afforestation on working lands 🌳 Afforestation/reforestation and sustainable forest planting for high carbon sequestration rate 🌳 Increasing on-site carbon storage through Forest Stand Management
Here's a link to paper: https://lnkd.in/gbE8v_Pq (It's well worth the read)
🙏 Robert Parkhurst, Michelle Perez, Lisa M., Rebecca Wright, Max DuBuisson, Margaret Henry, Amy Hughes, Chris Kopman, Ryan S., Walton Family Foundation
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Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
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