CIBO selected as technology partner for Virginia Tech-led groundbreaking $80M USDA farm conservation grant program

The Alliance to Advance Climate-Smart Agriculture will leverage CIBO's platform and advanced modeling capabilities.

MINNEAPOLIS, July 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- CIBO Technologies, the sustainability software company for agriculture, today announced that they were selected as the technology partner for a groundbreaking $80 million USDA grant. Led by Virginia Tech University, the Alliance to Advance Climate-Smart Agriculture program financially awards farmers for adopting and implementing conservation practices across hundreds of thousands of acres in Arkansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Virginia.

By leveraging CIBO's advanced modeling capabilities, the program will quantify the impact of the adoption of on-farm conservation practices, such as cover cropping and conservation crop rotation. CIBO quantification results will enable the Alliance to establish a new marketplace where sustainable commodities could be sold for premiums to downstream customers, such as food companies and fuel buyers. The partnership demonstrates how collaboration between private and public organizations can deliver financial incentives for farmers that improve their profitability while advancing agricultural resilience.

Using incentives to unlock new markets and drive long-term resilience

Farmers are grappling with high costs, climate-related risks, and formidable business challenges. The program aims to overcome these economic and environmental factors by piloting a scalable approach to compensating farmers and ranchers while proving the financial value of stewardship practices that improve their long-term land resilience, soil health, and water quality.

"CIBO is proud to partner with Virginia Tech and other members of the Alliance to advance farmland conservation and provide financial incentives to farmers in ways that help their bottom line and scale high-impact agricultural practices," said Daniel Ryan, CEO of CIBO Technologies. "This program recognizes the growing need for measurable environmental and economic impact, and by aligning government funding with scaled quantification tools, we're helping create a win-win for farmers, communities, and the planet."

The Alliance to Advance Climate-Smart Agriculture represents a coalition of over 14 partners, led by Virginia Tech's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Through allocating funds directly to producers, the program sets a precedent for national-scale models aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of agriculture while strengthening rural economies.

"The Alliance to Advance Climate-Smart Agriculture is pleased to announce CIBO as its newest technology partner. CIBO is uniquely positioned to link Alliance MMRV data with opportunities for producers and deliver impact reporting across the ag value chain. We are poised to develop relationships with potential purchasers of climate-smart commodities and GHG benefits to add value and profitability to farms implementing sustainable practices." — Rebekah Slabach, Associate Director.

For more information about the program, please visit https://www.allianceforcsa.org/

About CIBO Technologies 

CIBO harnesses the power of technology and AI to make sustainable agriculture more profitable and scalable. By combining a best-in-class programs management platform, a Trusted Advisor Network with access to over 100M acres, and advanced modeling and analytics, CIBO helps governments, businesses, and nonprofits efficiently scale conservation initiatives and demonstrate financial and environmental impact. Founded by Flagship Pioneering, CIBO has been named one of TIME's Top 100 GreenTech Companies in America. Learn more at https://www.cibotechnologies.com/.

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