Center for Digital Agriculture
Precision & Digital Agriculture Hackathon
🖥️ 🏢 Hybrid Event • 🗓️ March 6–8, 2026 • 📍 John Deere Technology Innovation Center
📣 Calling all high school, undergraduate, and graduate students! The Center for Digital Agriculture at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is hosting the Precision & Digital Agriculture Hackathon, March 6-8, 2026, at the John Deere Technology Innovation Center. This is your opportunity to help shape the future of agriculture by addressing real-world agricultural challenges as we continue to transform how we feed and support a changing agricultural landscape through the use of foundational artificial intelligence, generative AI, machine learning techniques, computer vision, and more.
📅 Date: March 6-8, 2026
📍 Location: John Deere Technology Innovation Center ( 2021 S 1st St Ste 101, Champaign, IL 61820)
- High school students will participate virtually
- Undergraduate and graduate students will participate in person
🌱 Why Precision Agriculture?
Global agriculture is undergoing a digital transformation. With rising climate pressures, soil degradation, and food demand, precision agriculture offers smarter, sustainable ways to farm.
Through sensors, AI, drones, robotics, and IoT, farmers can optimize water use, reduce waste, boost yields, and protect the environment. This hackathon is your chance to build tech that matters — in the field and beyond.
🧠 Who Can Participate?
Open to students, professionals, researchers, and startups across fields:
- Software Developers
- Data Scientists & AI/ML Engineers
- Agronomists & Environmental Scientists
- IoT & Robotics Engineers
- Designers, Entrepreneurs, and more!
No farming background required — just curiosity and a drive to make a difference.
💡 Themes & Challenges
1. 🌾 Smart Crops Track
- Focus: Applying digital tools to optimize crop production.
- Themes: Drone and satellite imaging, precision irrigation, soil sensors, and yield prediction models.
2. 🐖 Smart Livestock Track
- Focus: Enhancing animal welfare, health, and productivity with digital monitoring.
- Themes: Wearable sensors, computer vision for behavior analysis, automated weight/condition scoring, precision feeding.
3. 🖥️ GenAI Track
- Focus: Harnessing generative AI to make agricultural data more accessible, interactive, and creative
- Themes: Large language models, multimodal AI (e.g., text + image + sensor data), conversational assistants, generative scenario planning.
4. 📈 Analytics & Decision Support Track
- Focus: Turning diverse farm data into structured, actionable insights for producers.
- Themes: Predictive analytics, interactive dashboards, digital twins, and integrated farm management platforms.
✏️ Registration
Registration is now open!
🔗 Register Here
👥 Teams of up to 4 members (solo participants welcome – we’ll help you find a team)
Deadline to Apply: February 27, 2026
Tentative Agenda
FRIDAY (EVENING), March 6, 2026 • KICK-OFF • 5 PM – MIDNIGHT (CST)
Time
Agenda
5:00 p.m.
Registration & Welcome Dinner
6:00 p.m.
Opening Keynote: The Future of Digital Agriculture (industry leader)
6:30 p.m.
Theme Reveal & Challenge Statement
7:00 p.m.
Mentor Pitches (each mentor gives a 1-min intro of expertise)
7:30 p.m.
Team Formation (hybrid breakout rooms + in-person networking)
8:30 p.m.
Icebreaker Activity (quiz/game themed on digital ag)
9:00 p.m.
Start hacking!
12:00 a.m.
Leave facility for the night
SATURDAY, March 7, 2026 • 7:00 AM – MIDNIGHT (CST)
Time
Agenda
7:00 a.m.
Return to facility for the day
9:00 a.m.
Workshop 1: AI & Computer Vision in Agriculture
10:30 a.m.
Workshop 2: IoT Sensors & Data Pipelines for Crops & Livestock
12:00 p.m.
🍽️ Lunch
1:00 p.m.
Work Session + Mentor Check-Ins
3:00 p.m.
Workshop 3: Building Decision Support Dashboards (with real-world data)
4:30 p.m.
Panel Discussion: Industry + farmers on “Barriers & Opportunities in Digital Ag”
6:00 p.m.
🍽️ Dinner
7:00 p.m.
Hack Time + Optional Fun Event (movie, trivia, coding challenge)
12:00 a.m.
Midnight snacks & coding sprint
Wrap up work at facility for the evening
SUNDAY, March 8, 2026 • 7:00 AM – 5:00 PM (CDT)
Time
Agenda
7:00 a.m.
Return to facility for the day
9:00 a.m.
Hack Sprint + Pitch Prep Workshop
12:00 p.m.
🍽️ Lunch
1:00 p.m.
Final Presentations (5–7 min pitch + demo per team, online teams submit pre-recorded or livestream)
3:30 p.m.
Judges’ Deliberation
4:00 p.m.
Awards Ceremony & Closing Remarks
5:00 p.m.
Event ends
🤝 Partners & Sponsors
Proudly supported by:
Want to sponsor or mentor? Please contact Isabella Condotta (icfsc@illinois.edu) and Melanie Rodriguez (mamoore5@illinois.edu) for more information.