Syngenta announces Crop Challenge case details

The Syngenta Crop Challenge case details were announced at the 2015 Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences (INFORMS) annual meeting this week; Syngenta and INFORMS are sponsoring the Challenge.

Farmers are challenged to develop a prediction on what farmers should plant next season to maximize yield. The project focuses on using analytics to address the global hunger problem and asks how a farmer can make seed variety decisions that optimally reduce risk and increase yield.

“Bringing plant potential to life is our purpose at Syngenta," Joe Byrum, Syngenta head of soybean seeds product development and lead for the Syngenta Crop Challenge, said. "We strive to continually bring new technologies and innovations to the market to help keep farmers at the top of their game. Extending our work through this challenge will help us broaden our reach and scope of ideas even more. We’re excited to see the ideas generated through this competition.”

To make an informed entry, contestants are provided the following data:
--Soil property information for the model farm that will be used when choosing which varieties to plant,
--Daily weather data for the past 15 years (focused on the growing season) for the farm, and
--Test data for the seed varieties at various soil types and weather types for the past four years, indicating the yield for each variety at each growing season.

Contestants must be 18 or older and submit their entries by Jan. 15, 2016. The finalists will be announced on Feb. 26 and will make their presentation on April 12 at the INFORMS Practice Conference in Orlando, Florida.

The winner will be awarded $5,000. Second place will receive $2,500 and third place will be awarded $1,000.