ENERGY + CLIMATE + NATURE

XPRIZE Carbon Removal


PlantVillage
PlantVillage
State College, United States
Pennsylvania State University
  • Phase 2 Top 100 Team
  • Phase 2 Team
  • Phase 1 Top 60 Team
  • Phase 1 Student Winner
  • Phase 1 Qualified Competitor

PlantVillage+ is the worker-owned spin-out of Penn State’s PlantVillage (a two-time XPRIZE bonus award winner). Across the tropics, their AI-Powered Carbon Capture Cubes run year-round to convert waste biomass into biochar (inertinite), permanently storing carbon while improving soils. PlantVillage+ produces and sells enriched biochar fertilizers that raise yields and accelerate carbon removal. Their modular pyrolysis units also recover waste heat for on-farm processing and route captured CO₂ into eco-concrete via PlantVillage+’s partner, MAA’VA™. PlantVillage+ is an end-to-end, agentic-AI + distributed-biochar platform that turns farm and community biomass into durable, verifiable carbon removal while boosting yields and incomes. AI orchestrates year-round feedstock (residues, diseased plants, invasives, agroforestry); youth-led squads run on-site pyrolysis to produce biochar where waste is generated, cutting methane from burning/decomposition. The biochar—recognized as inertinite—is recirculated into soils (often manure-blended) and into green building materials, with full MRV via the Biochar App. Net result: land-neutral, calorie-positive, equitable, permanent removal targeting ≤ $50/tCO₂ at scale.