Viridis View to Launch at Sustainable Ag Summit to Track Progress for Regenerative Agriculture

The data viewer will provide near-real-time, county-level data sets on the use of cover crops and conservation tillage practices to strengthen decision-making for U.S. agriculture.

The Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC) is proud to organize and lead Viridis View, a new conservation benchmarking collaborative designed to improve the measurement, understanding, and application of conservation practice use and outcomes across U.S. agriculture. With anchor funding from the Walton Family Foundation, Viridis View brings together multiple data providers, researchers, conservation organizations, agribusinesses, and other partners to develop shared approaches for benchmarking conservation trends and making conservation data more useful for decision-makers.

Building on CTIC’s decades of leadership in agricultural conservation data and collaborative partnerships, Viridis View seeks to create a trusted framework for evaluating conservation progress at multiple geographic scales. The initiative will help answer important questions about where conservation practices are expanding, how use is changing over time, and how conservation investments can be more effectively targeted to achieve environmental outcomes.

The need for consistent, credible, and transparent benchmarking has never been greater as interest in conservation outcomes continues to grow among farmers, conservation organizations, food companies, policymakers, and investors.

“Better conservation data leads to better conservation decisions,” says Ryan Heiniger, Executive Director of CTIC. “Viridis View represents the next evolution of CTIC’s commitment to providing trusted conservation information. By bringing together diverse partners around a shared vision for conservation benchmarking, we can provide better information that supports smarter investments, stronger conservation programs, and measurable environmental progress.”

CTIC currently makes such estimates available to the public as the Operational Tillage Information System (OpTIS). The Viridis View initiative will provide county-level data sets from multiple providers, including DTN, Iowa State University, Regrow, Terion AI, and TerraDiagnostics. The data will be displayed in an accessible and interactive viewer that will be free for all stakeholders, including academia, conservation NGOs, farmers, government agencies, food companies, allied industries, and policymakers. The initiative will expand industry efforts by fostering greater collaboration among organizations that generate, analyze, and use conservation data.

CTIC will unveil the platform Nov. 19 during a workshop at the Sustainable Agriculture Summit in Fort Worth, Texas. The workshop, “Viridis View: A New CTIC-Led Collaboration to Track Progress in Conservation Practice Adoption,” will include the project’s data providers and steering committee directors.  

Why Conservation Benchmarking is Needed

Healthy soils, clean water, and resilient farmland are the foundation of American agriculture and the rural communities that depend on it. The use of conservation practices—such as cover crops, reduced tillage, nutrient stewardship, and edge-of-field practices—helps to reduce erosion, improve soil health, protect water quality, and strengthen resilience to droughts and extreme weather. Those benefits translate into more productive farmland, improved farm profitability, stronger rural economies, and a more secure supply of the food, feed, fiber, and fuel that millions of Americans rely on every day.

Viridis View will provide a common foundation, transforming conservation monitoring from periodic reporting into actionable intelligence that helps farmers, researchers, conservation organizations, agribusinesses, and policymakers make more informed decisions and maximize the return on conservation investments.

How it Started

Dean Hively (USGS) provided context on the importance of remote sensing for conservation tracking, explaining how satellite data can support multiple important environmental goals and regulatory frameworks.

Organizations interested in participating in Viridis View or learning more about the initiative are encouraged to contact CTIC or visit the project webpage at ctic.org.