March 1, 2023: CultivateCI, an emerging leader in Canada’s agtech industry, has been selected for the prestigious Agtech Accelerator program. With offices in Winnipeg and Calgary, they are the only company in Manitoba and Alberta named to this year’s cohort.

Agtech Accelerator (www.cultivator.ca) is a partnership between Cultivator powered by Conexus, Economic Development Regina and Emmertech, designed to accelerate Canadian agtech. This initiative is poised to cultivate early-stage agtech companies from Canada and across the globe, building Canada’s distinction as an agtech hub.

Agtech Accelerator’s 2022 cohort raised almost $22 million in private capital, a figure CultivateCI’s cofounder and CEO Boyd Koldingnes hopes can be surpassed by the 2023 cohort.

CultivateCI has entered the agtech scene with a splash with their creation of proprietary carbon intensity scoring, reporting and validating across the entire agriculture supply chain. Providing the only low-carbon certification in the industry, CultivateCI has the tools for the entire agriculture supply chain to predict, adopt and monetize sustainable agricultural practices.

CultivateCI scores crop production on carbon intensity at the field or barn level, allowing producers to adopt more sustainable approaches and highlight already existing practices. This allows buyers to source low-carbon grain or animal protein that consumers are looking for and allows all parties to benefit from a transparent scoring system with full traceability.

Many in the industry recognize the limitations of carbon offsets. The carbon offset market is flawed and does nothing to reduce actual emissions, while the carbon inset market remains underdeveloped. Up until now, the problem has been there is no global standard for the measurement of carbon intensity – CultivateCI is the solution to this critical problem.

Co-founder Boyd Koldingnes explains: “CultivateCI provides a pathway to low carbon products from the field or animal barn to the grocery store. Consumers have the opportunity to purchase products with a low carbon footprint and producers are rewarded with higher selling prices for their lower emission agriculture practices.”

CultivateCI was already selected for SVG Ventures|THRIVE’s THRIVE Academy, a program designed to support early stage agrifood-tech entrepreneurs, and has been highlighted by media including the Western Producer (The steps to going green | The Western Producer). The company counts grain buyers, financial institutions, animal production and consumer packaged good (CPG) companies among its list of international customers and partners – and there are no signs of this momentum slowing down.

“Transforming agricultural systems is the most critical thing we can do to reverse climate change. Tracing the carbon footprint from farm to fork is an important piece of this transformation and I’m proud that CultivateCI is leading the way right here in Canada.” says Koldingnes.