INFORMS Open Forum

Enter the Syngenta Crop Challenge and put your analytical skills to the test for a chance to win up to $5,000

  • 1.  Enter the Syngenta Crop Challenge and put your analytical skills to the test for a chance to win up to $5,000

    Posted 09-21-2018 16:14

    The 2019 Syngenta Crop Challenge in Analytics, brought to you by the Analytics Society of INFORMS, is now open.  By accepting the crop challenge, you and your team will demonstrate how data can be used to feed the future world for a chance to share in prize money of $5,000 for first place, $2,500 for second place and $1,000 for third place.

    The population of Earth is growing by 200,000 people per day and is projected to reach 9.8 billion in 2050, yet our world is running out of cropland - land needed to produce food. And we're currently using our arable land and water 50 percent faster than the planet can sustain. At the same time, the crops farmers plant face an unprecedented set of obstacles due to increasingly limited growing conditions and climate change. How will we be able to grow enough food to meet the world demand?

    In particular, this year's competition focuses on the following two research problems that could potentially help plant breeders develop more resilient crops:

    1. Can environmental data be aggregated into useful metrics representing stresses encountered by corn hybrids throughout a growing season?
    2. Can these metrics be used to discriminate between corn hybrids tolerant and susceptible to the stresses they represent?

    To sign up, visit https://www.ideaconnection.com/syngenta-crop-challenge/?utm_source=INFORMS&utm_campaign=openForumConnect.  For more information and to download the submission template, click "Learn More." For answers to questions, fill in the email template under "Contact."

    Submissions are due January 18, 2019.  Finalists will be announced in March and will present their work during the INFORMS Business Analytics Conference April 14-16, 2019 in Austin, Texas and winners will be announced near the end of the conference.



    ------------------------------
    Erick Wikum
    Vice-President
    Analytics Society of INFORMS
    ------------------------------