From Genetic Potential to Commercial Proof: Building Connected Livestock Value Chains

The science to select livestock for feed efficiency, disease resilience, heat tolerance, and productivity simultaneously already exists. Genetics may represent the single greatest untapped opportunity to transform livestock production, moving from herd-level averages toward individual animal intelligence that connects breeding decisions to productivity. The barrier is not scientific. It is commercial: the architecture needed to verify, attribute, and reward genetic value across the supply chain is still being built. This session explores what unlocking that transformation requires. We will discuss:

• Why genetic value fails to translate into financial reward at producer level and what business models and data infrastructure are needed to change that
• What the shift from herd-level to individual animal management requires in terms of traceability, shared frameworks, and aligned incentives
• How fragmented systems, proprietary platforms, and misaligned stakeholder interests get overcome to create shared, verifiable value
• What downstream financial signals from processors, retailers, and buyers are needed to make producer-level genetic investment rational