The winners were chosen from three finalists for each challenge, after more than 100 international entries were received from agtech start-ups around the world.

The AGCO Challenge: New Sensing, Measurement and Edge Computing Technologies to Monetize Soil Insight and Carbon Sequestration

Winner: EarthOptics specializes in AI, machine learning, edge computing using mobile standoff sensors to detect, visualize, and mitigate soil compaction.

The Nutrien Challenge: Crop Input Technologies that Improve Nitrogen Use Efficiency, Increase Soil Carbon, and Improve Water Use Efficiency

Winner: CoteX Technologies offers soil degradable polymer coated seed fertilizers.

Six finalists were selected through an in-depth review and judging process, to present their solution to the judges and audience at the virtual World Agri-Tech on March 10.

Revealing the winner of the Nutrien Challenge were judges David Stanko, Head of AgTech Engagement, and Matt Marshall, Senior Director, Corporate Strategy. Commenting on the reasons for the Nutrien winning choice, Matt Marshall said:

“CoteX represents an exciting opportunity to evolve nutrient slow and controlled release nitrogen fertilizer products, offering significant potential cost savings at scale, and the flexibility to adapt both the composition and design polymer coatings to improve in field product performance, optimizing uptake of nitrogen by the crop and minimizing environmental loss and impact.”

Judging the final pitches for the AGCO Challenge were Seth Crawford, Vice President, Fuse Connected Services & Digital Customer Experience and Haley Engelberth, Global Sustainability Manager. Announcing the winner, Seth said:

“We believe that EarthOptics is delivering actionable insights today and the accuracy of less sampling will resonate with customers.”

Abigail Ryder, Program Director at World Agri-Tech said:

“It’s been a joy to see so much innovation flood in from around the globe. We’ve seen impactful solutions from start-ups with true potential to tackle some of the biggest challenges in world agriculture. They can’t do it alone, which is why we’ve been delighted to partner with Nutrien and AGCO on their two Innovation Challenges at the summit. Thanks again to both judging teams for their invaluable time, insights and commitment to supporting start-ups in their growth. Congratulations to the winners, and we’re excited to hear more from all the finalists in the future.”

The remaining four presenting finalists were: CloudAgronomics (USA), BPS Agriculture (USA), Soil Carbon Co. (Australia), SmartCloudFarming (Germany)

Source: World Agri-Tech

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