Cab International

Cab International, a UK-based nonprofit organization headquartered in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, provides scientific research services, biological control solutions, and digital access to agricultural and environmental science publications to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and allied federal agencies as a prime recipient (98% of recent awards) on cooperative agreements and grants. The organization operates internationally across over forty countries, with performance locations including Switzerland, Africa, Asia, and Bangladesh alongside domestic U.S. work, and competes in open federal funding without set-aside designations.

Cab International's capability portfolio centers on three core federal service lines: perpetual digital access to peer-reviewed agricultural science e-book collections; biological control research targeting invasive plant species; and international agricultural trade policy support focused on pesticide regulatory harmonization and maximum residue limit (MRL) standards. Representative work includes a $214,026 cooperative agreement from USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) effective March 2026 for development of biological control solutions targeting invasive rangeland weeds, with performance in Switzerland; a $10,155.60 purchase order from USDA's Central Program Planning Coordination and Support (September 2023) for IP-authenticated perpetual electronic access to the 2023 CAB e-books collection for all USDA users; and a three-year $1.3 billion export-value cooperative agreement from USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service (awarded September 2024, performance through September 2027) supporting risk-based pesticide regulatory systems and MRL policy implementation across Southeast Asia, with partnered implementation alongside Ag Aligned Global, The Minor Use Foundation, and Bryant Christie Inc.

Customer concentration runs heavily toward USDA. The top five funding agencies account for 71% of recent awards by count, led by USDA's Agricultural Research Service Central Program Planning Coordination and Support (14 awards, $2.8 million combined potential value) and USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service Technical Agricultural Assistance (10 awards, with dollar figures grouped in the FAS vehicle). USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Headquarters ranks third by value ($46 thousand across five awards), followed by the Department of the Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works (three awards for invasive aquatic plant biological control) and the Department of State Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs (two awards). The two rankings converge on USDA dominance — combined, USDA-funded work represents the vast majority of recent activity across both award count and dollar concentration.

Activity shows episodic intensity rather than steady climb. Five awards in 2021 declined to two in 2022, rose to three in 2023, then jumped to nine in 2024; one award appears in the 2026 window (the March APHIS cooperative agreement). Combined potential value across all fifty-five awards totals $2.9 million; however, combined dollars obligated across the full award history total $18.9 million (659% of potential value), indicating either significant prior-year obligations or conservative potential-value labeling in the source. Four awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months. In its single subrecipient role, Cab International receives federal grant funding as a subawardee under Land O'Lakes Venture37 on a Cambodia food-systems capacity-building cooperative agreement awarded November 2024. Cab International does not hold prime federal contracts; all prime work flows through cooperative agreements and project grants rather than transactional purchase orders, reflecting the nonprofit's research-grant operational profile.