Is Your Idea Worth Money? Say $15,000?

If you’ve followed ISA’s On-Farm Network® programming, you’ve probably heard us speak many times about the value of remote sensing in managing your crops. Not only can the use of remote sensing help boost crop production profits, but also it can help the environment. For example, using remote sensing for field evaluations can lead to more efficient use of fertilizers and other crop inputs. Farmers may be able to reduce their operating costs by using fertilizer more efficiently and increase yields while mitigating the serious problems associated with nitrogen pollution: hypoxic zones in coastal waters, impaired drinking water supplies, degraded fisheries and recreational areas, and risks to human health. The current limitation in widespread adoption of remote sensing is reliable access to frequent, accurate, and inexpensive imagery. How best do we solve this problem?

Well, we know that many innovations in agriculture have started with a farmer’s idea. Farmers know their business and can quickly identify needs that, if met, would make it better. Quite often they have ideas for a solution. Examples include tile plows, folding toolbars for planters, 20-in. corn planters (and the combine heads to match them) in-bin grain stirrers, and much more. Many times, these solutions came to life in farm shops or small fabrication plants.

In recent times, though, many of the ideas farmers talk about in the coffee shop stay right there. Setting up for manufacturing and marketing, dealing with attorneys – patent and liability – and even worse – protecting your rights while competing with a multi-billion dollar corporation can make one’s head spin and deplete their bank account.

But here’s an opportunity to get paid for your idea. ISA and Environmental Defense Fund have teamed up and are announcing a prize of $15,000 for the best idea to overcome these limitations.

Challenge Overview

A range of methods and services are available to growers to allow them to evaluate the effectiveness of management practices and their impact on crop growth and yield. An example of such tools can be seen at http://www.agtechonfarm.net/ and http://www.isafarmnet.com/. Many of these methods are perceived as inaccessible except at large scales, not available at the right times during the growing season, or too expensive. By making such methods easier to access and adopt and improving the information they deliver, growers will have the opportunity to make better evidence-based decisions regarding crop nutrient needs, and will be able to see how to improve management practices for economic and environmental benefit.

This Challenge is being offered through InnoCentive, a foundation for innovation and incentive. It is what InnoCentive calls a “Theoretical Challenge,” in that it requires only a written proposal to be submitted. The Challenge award will be contingent upon theoretical evaluation of the proposal by the ISA and EDF. The prize money comes from InnoCentive, not from money paid for membership dues or the checkoff.

Those who submit acceptable ideas for this Challenge will not have to give up their exclusive IP rights to their ideas. Rather, they will grant to ISA and EDF a non-exclusive license to practice their solutions. Since they still own all rights to the idea, they may license or sell it to others to bring to the marketplace. Our aim is to make the use of remote sensing both commonplace and cost effective for all growers.

Deadline for applying for this challenge is August 13, 2011. For more information on this InnoCentive Challenge, go to https://www.innocentive.com/ar/challenge/9932838. To learn more about InnoCentive, go to http://www.innocentive.com/about-innocentive.

Good luck!

-Tracy Blackmer