CIBO Technologies and Sand County Foundation Collaborate on $14M USDA RCPP Effort Advancing Farmer-Led Conservation in Wisconsin and Illinois

MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- CIBO Technologies, the sustainability software company for agriculture, today announced its partnership with Sand County Foundation, a national nonprofit recognized for equipping landowners with practical conservation tools, to power a multi-year Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) initiative, funded by the USDA NRCS.

Sand County Foundation was awarded $13.8 million in RCPP funding in late 2023 to initiate new farmer-led groups in Illinois and to expand existing efforts in Wisconsin (with complementary work in parts of Iowa). The grant focus is on farmer-led conservation, funded through locally designed financial incentives, with an emphasis on cover cropping and soil-health practices.

Technology partnership overcomes data hurdles

Sand County Foundation is partnering with CIBO Technologies, leveraging CIBO's innovative program management platform and technical expertise to enable flexible, state-specific program configuration, centralized data collection and reporting for Sand County Foundation and NRCS. 

• CIBO Impact is a purpose-built platform that allows partners to upload field boundaries, qualify and enroll growers. Eligibility requirements can be configured across different state requirements.
• CIBO Impact provides real-time dashboards on enrollment and practice adoption, and customizable digital submissions to USDA NRCS county offices, standardizing reporting across geographies and partners and simplifying multi-state conservation program management.

CIBO's data-driven sustainability solution delivers clearer oversight for Sand County Foundation and more consistent, accurate information for NRCS. The result is reduced manual processing, faster verification, and improved program visibility from signup to reporting. These capabilities also help resolve one of the biggest obstacles to scaling regenerative practices: fragmented, manual data collection and verification.

"Managing a complex, multi-state program requires one go-to source for data," said Craig Ficenec, Senior Director of Agricultural Conservation at Sand County Foundation. "With CIBO, we have a single, adaptable system that integrates multiple customized projects while improving transparency for NRCS. We can implement this RCPP effort faster and put more dollars into proven practices."

As programs evolve, the same infrastructure can incorporate modeled outcomes—such as GHG—and support private Scope 3 initiatives alongside public funding.

"CIBO was built for partner-driven conservation, helping to remove the barriers to regenerative agriculture adoption," said Dan Ryan, president and CEO of CIBO Technologies. "Through the CIBO platform, we can facilitate greater access to funding, streamline fragmented data and workflows, and provide the technical and agronomic expertise needed for success."

About Sand County Foundation

Sand County Foundation is a national nonprofit working at the intersection of agriculture and environmental improvement. Rooted in Aldo Leopold's land ethic and the ideas behind A Sand County Almanac, SCF equips private landowners with data, demonstrations, and peer examples to improve water resources, build healthy soils, and enhance wildlife habitats. SCF also presents the Leopold Conservation Award in 28 states to farmers, ranchers, and forestland owners for exemplary stewardship on working lands. Learn more at https://sandcountyfoundation.org/.

About CIBO

CIBO harnesses the power of technology and AI to make sustainable agriculture more profitable and scalable. By combining a best-in-class program 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. 

Media Contacts:

• Sand County Foundation: Chris Schellpfeffer, Vice President of External Relations,
  [email protected]
  
• CIBO:
  [email protected]

SOURCE CIBO Technologies, Inc.