FutureSolvers Cultivation Challenge

The FutureSolvers Cultivation Challenge focuses on students developing innovative ideas that address challenges facing our region.

Undergraduate college students from southern Minnesota and northern Iowa are invited to compete in the FutureSolvers Cultivation Challenge, an agricultural pitch challenge offering nearly $30,000 in cash prizes. Student teams are presented with a scenario depicting an economic challenge facing our region and will compete to develop the most innovative and entrepreneurial solution. Competitors must rely on skills of critical thinking, teamwork, networking, and a business acumen to craft a winning pitch.

This year's competition will include two tracks, with two divisions for each track, targeting different aspects of rural revitalization.

Track #1: Business Focus

Rural Renaissance: Business, Community and Supply Chain Innovation

Value-added agriculture takes a raw agricultural product or byproduct and turns it into a product that appeals to a broader customer base or earns the farmer a greater portion of the total “farm-to-fork/fiber/fuel” revenue.

Your challenge is to develop a business plan and marketing plan for a new or innovative value-added agricultural product that uses an agricultural commodity or byproduct currently produced in southern Minnesota. Your proposal should aim to:

Utilize local agricultural products in new and innovative ways
Leverage the existing manufacturing facility or transportation corridor
Create new jobs that attract young talent
Demonstrate that the business is likely to be financially sustainable

Track #2: STEM Focus

Smart Farming and Supply Chains

Your challenge is to develop a project that applies STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) innovations to agriculture and its supply chain, and that includes a practical application of automation intelligence (AI), robotics, and/or the Internet of Things (IoT). Your proposal should aim to introduce cutting-edge solutions that:

Enhance agricultural productivity and sustainability
Enable data-driven decision-making
Make agriculture more efficient, transparent and profitable for rural producers

Divisions

Intermediate Division: Teams of undergraduate college students in their first and second years of study only.
Open Division: Teams of undergraduate college students including students in their third year of study or more. Open Division teams may include first-year and second-year members, but any team with at least one member in their third year of study or more must compete in the Open Division.

View the Rulebook for more information and rules

Questions about the FutureSolvers Cultivation Challenge may be directed to cie@mnsu.edu or 507-389-1018.

Past FutureSolvers Winners