Companies, students, startups, academics and innovators to compete for $25,000 grand prize; Registration ends September 7

AgriNovus Indiana, an initiative to grow the agbioscience economy, launched the Producer-Led Innovation Challenge today – a nine-week accelerator to create tech-enabled businesses that manage on-farm labor shortages while also saving farmers time and money.

In partnership with the Indiana Corn Marketing Council and Indiana Soybean Alliance, the Producer-Led Innovation Challenge creates an opportunity for companies, entrepreneurs, students and innovators to compete for a $25,000 grand prize by developing technology that reduces labor needs without facing the strategic decision between investment risk and labor uncertainty.

“Farmers continue to face critical headwinds when it comes to securing adequate on-farm labor,” said Mitch Frazier, president and CEO of AgriNovus. “The Producer-Led Innovation Challenge creates an opportunity for tech innovators to develop solutions that reduce administrative burden and drives value on the farm.”

The 2024 Producer-Led Innovation Challenge will largely focus on digital innovation 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 the farmer’s time on tasks;
• 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.

Given the critical nature of administration and labor management in agriculture, the Challenge encourages teams to innovate for current inefficiencies while also enhancing overall management and productivity of on-farm processes, ensuring sustainable and profitable outcomes for producers.

“While running a farm is much like running any other business, there are some unique challenges that farmers face that deserve attention,” said Ben Forsythe, sustainability and value creation director for the Indiana Corn Marketing Council and the Indiana Soybean Alliance. “Technology development and adoption is key to tackling those challenges and Indiana’s corn and soybean checkoffs are excited to be a part of this program. There has been a long history of success with the companies involved in the Producer-Led Innovation Challenge, and we are looking forward to seeing what great innovation comes out of this year’s competition.”

A study completed by Aimpoint Research informed the scope of this year’s Challenge and outlined three areas of opportunity to innovate for farmers, including labor shortages and management, administrative burden and technological adoption. Read the study here.

The Producer-Led Innovation Challenge has served as a springboard for entrepreneurial companies to thrive. Since its launch, every company that has won the Challenge has either received follow-on funding or has been acquired. FiberX, winner of the 2024 Challenge, most recently closed on an additional round of funding that included investment from Purdue Innovates.

Companies, individuals and entrepreneurs who want to participate in the Challenge can access technical information, Challenge objectives, rules and register to participate here. The deadline to register is September 7 at 11:59 p.m.