Summary
Timeline
Updates13
Forum21
Teams130
FAQ
Challenge one - Dairy
Challenge two - Horticulture
Challenge three - Water Management
Challenge four - Forestry
Challenge five - Connected Farm
Pivoting around a global pandemic, the fourth annual AgTech Hackathon team is once again seeking ambitious problem solvers to ideate solutions to five Primary Industry challenges - albeit from their bubble.
Originally planned to be the last weekend of March as an active part of NZ Agrifood Week, the event was postponed due to Covid-19. True to creative and tech roots, the Hackathon is determined to go ahead but with a twist.
Introducing AgTech Hackathon Lite.
The challenge runs until 28th April, with participants choosing one of our five Primary Industry challenges and entering a viable solution to potentially solve that challenge. One solution from every challenge will be chosen for our judges to choose an overall winner. The winner will receive $1,000 while the other top four will walk away with $250.
Participants are invited to enter as individuals, with friends, or join up with people online from all around Aotearoa to explore the challenges, research, and brainstorm solutions in an ideation process, before finally entering their solution by the deadline.
As with past AgTech Hackathons, we will be utilising our specialist mentors to support participants with the challenge by listening to ideas, giving feedback, answering any questions and giving sector insight, allowing participants to form a solution.
Start a post in our Forum to join the conversation, find a team, or connect with other innovators.
To learn more about AgTech Hackathon, visit www.agtechhackathon.co.nz
Thanks to our partners for their ongoing support.
Guidelines
Prize
AgTech Hackathon over all winner receives: $1,000 cash, The Factory’s start up support (3 months) and an Amazon Echo device.
AgTech Hackathon top four winners receive: $250 each
Judging
All entries will be reviewed March 29th – 30th for two stages of judging. Challenge mentors will review all entries and choose a top entry from each challenge to become semi-finalists. The AgTech Hackathon judges will then determine an overall winner based on the judging criteria below.
How do I present my solution?
Present your solution using the Amazon Web Services ‘working backwards’ method we learned in our LIVE Ideation session. We thought this would be a great skill to learn for the AgTech Hackathon Solution Challenge and future solutions you develop. If you missed it, you’ll see it linked below.
The ‘working backwards’ method is an in depth process used by Amazon Web Services in real life, your entry does not need to be the exact level of detail explained in the video. Do the best with what you have! Answer the criteria as best as possible and enter your solution before the deadline. You never know what can happen for you from there!
Please note, you need to submit a written document and a video. The written document counts for 80% of your score and the video is 20% of your score and you must have a video to be judged.
Scott mentions a storyboard in the video. In your entry, you will use video to show and/or explain your problem and solution, you do not need a storyboard but can include one if it supports your entry.
Minimum Eligibility
Entries are open to people living in New Zealand only
All entries must be made in English
All submission form fields must be completed
Video's are to be no longer than 3 minutes in length - Anything over 3 minutes will not be judged.
All entries that meet these minimum eligibility requirements will then be scored accordingly: Written 80% and video 20%
Written
Clear description of the problem, how it is solved today
20%
Written
Clearly specifies what the problem costs the customer
20%
Written
Clearly articulates how the solution solves the problem
20%
Written
Clear description of how the customer/end user would use the solution and integrate it into their business/life
20%
Video
Elevator pitch - clearly and succinctly explain the problem and solution. Must include founder/team introduction with short context to their background/experience.
We had so much fun creating the AgTech Hackathon Solution Challenge and sharing it with you over the past few weeks.
This is our first ever 100% online event and with the current state of play, we'd like to continue improving how we deliver events online as we will likely do more in the future.
We would love your feedback! Please complete this 5 minute survey here.
Everyone who completes the survey will go in the draw to win an AgTech Hackathon prize pack.
With a deft pivot around a global pandemic, the fourth annual AgTech Hackathon successfully completed its first ‘AgTech Hackathon Lite’ - a virtual version of our popular annual event.
Proving innovation doesn’t quit in the face of a nationwide lockdown,Beta Team - a Manawatu based team, took out the challenge as overall winner with their solution to Zespri International's challenge. The team developed Bugkilla, an all-in-one product which attracts, monitors and eradicates BMSB and provides real-time monitoring and eradication of bug infestations for fruit growers and horticulturists.
Congratulations to Beta Team and thank you to YOU for being involved in our first digital AgTech Hackathon Lite. We hope you enjoyed your experienced and we look forward to continuing work with this community of innovative thinkers.
Please share this news with your friends, family and networks, we know they would love to hear how you spent some of your lockdown participating in AgTech Hackathon.
We're excited to share with you the top four finalists chosen by our challenge mentors. Mentors were impressed with the high caliber of entries and comment you for your hard work.
Here are the Top Four Finalists
Challenge one - Dairy: FINDA - Connecting consumers to farmers (Waikato team) Connecting consumers to farm data, differentiating products and sharing NZ's story. Harnessing the benefits of B2C and simple supply chains.
Challenge two - Horticulture: Bugkilla - Attracts, Monitors and Eradicates BMSB (Manawatu team) An all-in-one product which provides real-time monitoring and eradication of bug infestations for fruit growers and horticulturalists.
Challenge four - Forestry: Geo-Pine: With Pine-Point Accuracy (Waikato) A risk-based mapping tool; calculating slash accumulation & risk zoning potential slash pile location to advise contractors on best practice.
Challenge five - Connected farm: Minimize Leaching Through ultra-Precise Irrigation (Wellington) Minimizing leaching and runoff with ultra-precise irrigation aided by farm sensors and detection of cow urine patches using drone imagery.
Our judges are choosing scoring the top four finalists entries today and we will announce the overall winner tomorrow!
Good luck to our top four and thank you to everyone who entered.
Also, a massive thank you to our partners for their support, we could not do this without you!
If you're still finalising and preparing your entry, you have exactly 8 hours left to complete it!
Here's a Tip: HeroX recommends innovators plan to submit with at least a 3-hour window of time before the true deadline. Last-minute technical problems and unforeseen roadblocks have been the cause of many headaches. Don't let that be you! Try to enter your solution by 2pm today.
USING TECHNOLOGY, HOW CAN WE MAKE MONITORING, IDENTIFICATION AND CONTROL OF BMSB EASIER, MORE ACCURATE AND EFFICIENT ON KIWIFRUIT ORCHARDS?
Context and background:
The biggest risk to the kiwifruit industry is the loss of fruit supply that is acceptable to our customers. To help prevent this, pest and disease management protocols exist which:
Allow growers to deliver a high volume of fruit with minimised fruit loss either on-orchard or during packing
Result in fruit that is free of or has minimised pests and disease and agrichemical residues hence mitigating market restrictions
Maximise integrated pest management (IPM) approaches to underpin the sustainability value of the Zespri brand
Support uninterrupted production following potentially devastating biosecurity incursions
Zespri wants to ensure growers can manage pests and diseases in an economically sustainable way. By protecting supply of fruit, we protect ongoing sales and we protect the incomes of Zespri growers and shareholders. Pest monitoring and identification on kiwifruit orchards can be problematic due to lack of monitoring tools and current methods that rely heavily on time constrained people and their ability to see pest damage and identify pests. Also, current methods may only show a small portion of the type of pests’ present.
This challenge should focus on the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB), which is the kiwifruit industry’s second-most unwanted biosecurity threat after fruit flies. It doesn’t yet exist in New Zealand, but the risk of it entering our country is considered extreme.
The impact on the kiwifruit industry would be dire. Growers may experience up to 30% fruit loss from fruit drop and storage rot. The average orchard gate return per hectare for Hayward (green) is about $64k and about $140k per hectare for SunGold, and there are over 14,000 hectares of kiwifruit grown in NZ. So the cost impact of a BMSB incursion would potentially be in the tens of millions.
Detailed challenge description:
We would like the hackers to approach the problem in a number of ways. Are they solving the detection & monitoring problem, or are they solving the control problem? Or both… or a hybrid of both? Or something completely radicle! Remember, they are designing for one specific pest; the BMSB, so an innovative monitoring solution maybe something that can:
Automatically detect, identify and classify BMSB accurately
Provide a way (automatically or manually) to efficiently and conveniently collect BMSB information and occurrence rate from within an orchard
Provide near real-time insight into the BMSB situation in an orchard
Limit the number of times humans have to be involved in the process
Provide feedback to users and Zespri (reports, alerts etc)
Be a part of a bigger pest surveillance network
An innovative control solution maybe something that can:
Automatically detect, identify and classify BMSB accurately
Automatically apply a control mechanism to the orchard (think laser beams, precision application of sprays, automatic fly swats etc)
Use ML to predict a control requirement and actively apply a pre-emptive strike.
Provide alerts
Provide advice to humans on what control measures to apply if they decide to override the AI
Considerations:
GPS / Cellular signals are usually denied under the kiwifruit canopy
Growers can be quite picky about what “things” are used in their orchard
Growers typically don’t have the time to be involved in pest monitoring
Zespri needs to comply with certain rules and regulations around sprays, chemicals etc
Zespri only has a limited resource pool
Traps for BMSB already exist but they are not suitable to be used as a bigger surveillance network like those used for fruit fly.
Customer Segments:
The solution will be used primarily by Kiwifruit Vine Health Inc (KVH). KVH is a leading biosecurity organisation dedicated to supporting the New Zealand kiwifruit industry. KVH was established in December 2010 to lead the kiwifruit industries response to the Psa incursion. Since November 2012 they have been the lead organisation responsible for managing biosecurity readiness, response, and operations on behalf of the kiwifruit industry.
KVH works with kiwifruit growers, Zespri, New Zealand Kiwifruit Growers Inc (NZKGI), the post-harvest and associated industries such as beekeepers, pollen providers, nurseries and contractors; and the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).
KVH would be the primary implementers of any solution developed to detect, monitor or control BMSB.KVH liaises with MPI & Assure Quality to identify industry resources needed, which are then deployed via KiwiNet (operations and specialist roles - https://kiwinet.org.nz/).
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