Jul 22, 2016
UC ANR names Apps for Ag hackathon winners

A gardening and produce-sharing app took top prize in the Apps for Ag hackathon, after contestants pitched judges at the California State Fair in Sacramento on July 17. The first place team, GivingGarden, took home $7,500 in prize money, custom rodeo belt buckles and a six-month, top-tier membership to the AgStart Incubator in Woodland.

The hyper-local, produce-sharing app provides gardening advice from the UC Master Gardener Program and enables backyard gardeners to connect with others who want to share their produce. The GivingGarden team members are Scott Kirkland, Josh Livni, Deema Tamimi and John Knoll.

The second place team in the hackathon, Sense and Protect, (from left) Anthony Johnson, with Rina DiMare of the California State Fair, Dhrubajyoti Das, Peter Swanson and Alex Avalos with UC ANR Chief Information Officer Gabriel Youtsey.

Second place was awarded to Sense and Protect, a mobile task-management app that connects to climate sensors to protect farmworkers’ health and enhance their productivity. Sense and Protect team members Dhrubajyoti Das, Alex Avalos, Anthony Johnson and Peter Swanson share $4,500.

Third place went to ACP STAR System, a geo and temporal database and platform for tracking Asian citrus psyllid and other invasive pests. Team members Mark Takata and Chinh Lam share $2,500.

The third place team in the hackathon, ACP STAR System, (from left) Mark Takata and Chinh Lam, with DiMare and Youtsey.

The top three teams also will receive complimentary startup incorporation services valued at $2,200 from Royse Law.

Compostable, which finished in fourth place, is an app and “Internet of Things” (IoT) device that diverts food waste from landfills and turns it into fertilizer and fuel so that it can be used on a farm. Sohail Khan, Nathan Azevedo, Brandon Jack, Regan King and Raheela Khan make up the Compostable team.

All of the participating teams had about 48 hours to develop their apps. Teams that were interested were offered $500 in “cloud credits” to build their solutions and host them on Amazon Web Services’ platform. Teams also had access to an IoT kit to incorporate connected devices into their solution.

The top four teams pitched their apps to judges in front of a live audience at the California State Fair.

The fourth place team in the hackathon, Compostable, (from left) Regan King, Brandon Jack, with DiMare, Nathan Azevedo, Raheela Khan and Sohail Khan with Youtsey.

The Apps for Ag hackathon, which was sponsored by UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, the California State Fair and the city of Sacramento, brought together software developers, designers, entrepreneurs, farmers and others who work in agriculture.

“It’s really important for UC ANR to be involved in app development because as farmers and natural resource managers face ever-increasing challenges – climate change, invasive pests, the need to conserve water – technology is one of the ways to find solutions,” said Glenda Humiston, University of California vice president for agriculture and natural resources.

“Using technology we can find better ways to reduce pesticide use, increase irrigation efficiency, reduce travel into the fields, manage people better and deal with the fact that we have a huge labor shortage in this state,” said Humiston, who served as one of the Apps for Ag judges.

The other judges included University of California Chief Information Officer Tom Andriola, U.S. Department of Agriculture Chief Data Officer Bobby Jones, and Better Food Ventures and Mixing Bowl Hub founder Rob Trice.

In December, UC Davis hosted an Apps for Ag hackathon, with first place going to Ag for Hire, a LinkedIn for the ag labor market.

For more information, visit the Apps for Ag website.