The Farm Bureau Ag Innovation Challenge, now in its 11th year, provides opportunities for Farm Bureau members to showcase business innovations being developed for agriculture. Indiana-based Gripp is the winner of this year’s competition. The American Farm Bureau Federation, in partnership with Farm Credit, announced the winner from among four finalists at the 2025 American Farm Bureau Convention.

Gripp received a total of $100,000 to grow the business. Tracey Wiedmeyer, an Indiana Farm Bureau member, is team lead for the company, which offers farmers an operator-centric way to keep records of assets in combination with communication tools to keep everyone connected.

Labby was named runner-up in the contest and received a total of $25,000. Julia Somerdin, a New York Farm Bureau member, is team lead for the company, which develops cutting-edge, real-time milk testing solutions powered by AI, advanced photonics and mobile spectroscopy for the dairy industry.

“We’ve doubled the prize and doubled the impact for this year’s Ag Innovation Challenge,” said AFBF President Zippy Duvall. “The entrepreneurs honored today are helping shape the future of agriculture by finding innovative solutions to the challenges faced by farmers and ranchers.”

The final four teams that competed in San Antonio were selected from a field of 10 semi-finalist teams that participated in a virtual pitch round in October with three judges representing various sectors of the agricultural supply chain.

Halio from Utah and RhizeBio from North Carolina also reached the final four round of the competition and received $10,000 each.

The Ag Innovation Challenge winner and runner-up were selected by a three-person judging panel: Rosella Mosby, president, Washington Farm Bureau; Martha Smith, vice president of stakeholder relations, Bayer Crop Science; and Ray Behrens, senior relationships manager, Capital Farm Credit.

Farm Bureau is proud to recognize these innovative businesses, in partnership with sponsors Farm Credit, Bayer Crop Science, John Deere, Farm Bureau Bank, Farm Bureau Financial Services and T-Mobile. Learn more about the competition at fb.org/challenge.