Attention, app developers, hackers, tinkerers and coding hobbyists: Here’s your chance to win a little cash while helping the cause of agriculture and tech.
This weekend, University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources will be hosting an Apps for Ag hackathon at The Urban Hive in Sacramento. The hackathon is open to anyone with an idea of how to simplify, improve or streamline an aspect of agriculture for farmers or consumers. Contestants are encouraged to team up to create a useful technology. It can be a mobile app, device or a machine.
Examples of tech in ag abound. For example, Palmaz Vineyards in Napa has integrated technology into its winemaking process. The vineyard has sensors throughout its fields and on fermenting tanks to monitor everything from growth of grapes to all aspects of the fermentation process. Palmaz’s computer, Fermentation Intelligent Logic System (FILCS), interprets the information and projects it onto a high dome ceiling where it can be easily viewed and used by the winemakers.
The prizes at the hackathon are $10,000 for first place, $5,000 for second place and $2,500 for third.
The hackathon will begin at 6 p.m. Friday at The Urban Hive and will end Sunday afternoon at the California State Fair with a presentation of the contestants’ projects. For free registration or more information, go to the Apps for Ag website.
