By: Geoff Zentz, Senior Director of Innovation, AgriNovus Indiana

Innovation is absolutely essential to the future of the agbioscience economy, a point made quickly from the start of the 2024 Producer-Led Innovation Challenge kickoff call. A record number of 50+ teams – from students to venture-backed companies – will compete in this year’s challenge focused on tackling the administrative burdens farmers face in their operations.

In partnership with the Indiana Corn Marketing Council and Indiana Soybean Alliance, the Producer-Led Innovation Challenge is a nine-week accelerator that empowers innovators with tackling farmers’ most pressing operational challenges. Participants develop market-ready solutions, vying for a $25,000 prize to accelerate commercialization of their solution.

And the proof is in the pudding when it comes to this program. Every winner of the Producer-Led Innovation Challenge has either received follow-on funding or has gone on to be acquired. Whether it’s 2020 winner iYOTAH Solutions’ completion of a $2.8 million round this year or 2022 winner Aker Technologies being acquired by Intelinair, emerging technologies that focus on the farmer continue to be rewarded.

The value of the Producer-Led Innovation Challenge spans well past a check being cut, though. Participating teams are given access to guidance from leaders they likely won’t find anywhere else: farmers, scientists, investors, academics and innovation leads at agbioscience companies, to name a few. The goal for innovators? A custom nine-week accelerator experience that allows entrepreneurial minds to know their next steps, regardless of whether they win.

Administrative burden is a broad approach, so what will innovators work on in this year’s challenge? It is simply not good enough to be a solution in search of a problem.  A winning solution will aim to solve in at least one of the following areas:

• Data Management – developing a unified solution that consolidates financial, agronomic and credit program data to enable seamless access and management in real time;
• Government Program Compliance – creating tools to streamline government compliance processes for incentive and risk management programs, reducing farmer time on task;
• Labor Management – automating and optimizing labor scheduling, tracking time and task assignment based on real time operational needs and worker availability;
• Labor Resource Access – designing a platform that simplifies the navigation of labor programs like H2-A, helping producers connect with available labor resources more efficiently despite bureaucratic hurdles; and
• Robotics and Automation – integrating robotics and automation to supplement human labor, addressing worker shortages while minimizing the financial and logistical burden on producers.

As we work alongside these participating teams over the next several weeks, a focus on the farmer must remain clear.  Recent work done by The Directions Group (formerly Aimpoint Research) alongside Indiana producers dives into their needs at the farmgate to feed people sustainably and efficiently while also driving net farm income and managing environmental pressures. Read that study here and listen to Mark Purdy, EVP for The Directions Group, talk about this study on the Agbioscience Podcast.

More updates to come as we move through our fifth Producer-Led Innovation Challenge. Interested in learning more? Let’s chat – gzentz@agrinovusindiana.com.