Ag Innovation Challenges: the unveiling!

CALLING ALL FARMERS:

Over the last few years with our Ag Tech meetups we've listened to startups and farmers talk about problems and possible solutions to help the ag industry be more competitive and profitable. We’ve decided to tackle this head-on by partnering with the Technology Association of Oregon (TAO) to create an Ag Innovation Challenge. The goal of this challenge is to identify several problems affecting the agricultural sector, prototype solutions that would address these challenges, make Oregon agriculture more competitive and potentially provide additional revenue streams for our growers.

CALLING ALL TECHNOLOGISTS & ENTHUSIASTS:

The mid-Willamette Valley is known as an agricultural leader driven by the varied specialty crops that thrive here. The innovation displayed by the farmers throughout the region is thought provoking, begging the questions, “If growers could pitch ideas to technologists, could the tech community develop solutions to improve farming operations, create additional revenue streams for growers and build commercial viable hardware and software products? Could we create an agricultural innovation hub in and around Independence?”

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER:

The past few months, the City of Independence and SEDCOR teams took the TAO staff on multiple tours and visits to talk with farmers in the region. The TAO team gained insight into the day-to-day challenges and obstacles surrounding agriculture in the mid-Willamette Valley with the goal of coming up with a handful of challenges that farmers themselves can 'pitch' to entrepreneurs and technologists. These 'techies' don't come from agriculture but may have a software or hardware solution or skill that could be applied to solve these problems.

After the pitch, TAO will facilitate a week-long "design sprint,” playing matchmaker between problems and solutions. At the end of the week, the solutions will be “pitched” back to farmers and we’ll look to grow any good ideas.

Cara Snow from the Technology Association of Oregon will be facilitating a discussion around the challenges with our local growers and sharing what she learned over the course of the past few months. Our goal is to enhance the economic competitiveness of our region and our farmers, make urban technologists more aware of rural agricultural challenges and use technology to bring different communities together.

Note: The pitch to tech folks will be April 1 (no joke!), so this is one of the last opportunities we have to poke holes in our ideas and further refine the challenges. We'd love your input!