Applications for Data Challenge judges now open
F3 Innovate (F3i) is inviting agricultural professionals, remote sensing scientists, data scientists, and agtech innovators to serve as judges for Data Challenge #2: Satellite-Based Orchard Health in the Central Valley.
F3i's Data Challenges are designed to close the gap between real industry problems and applied artificial intelligence. In a focused four-week sprint, university teams will use open-source satellite imagery to build AI pipelines capable of detecting and mapping underperforming zones across Central Valley orchards, generating insights that could meaningfully benefit growers.
Desired expertise includes:
Agriculturalists/Growers: Assess if outputs would be useful in practice.
Remote sensing / GIS: Evaluate data pipelines, cloud masking approaches, and spatial methodology.
Data science / Machine learning: Can assess model rigor, validation strategy, and reproducibility of code.
Agtech: Can evaluate commercial viability and potential for real-world deployment.
"We believe that connecting domain experts with emerging technical talent accelerates the kind of innovation that actually works in the field," said Ryan Dinubilo, director of innovation. "Our judges score submissions while helping ensure that what gets built is grounded in real-world needs and scientific rigor."
Their solutions will be evaluated on the quality of the data pipeline, the soundness of the modeling approach, and the practical value of the outputs.
F3i builds judging panels with complementary expertise, are not expected to hold expertise in every area.
The time commitment is estimated at 6-8 total hours, including a 30-minute kickoff meeting, 3-5 hours to review submissions, and 1-2 hours for the awards panel.
The challenge culminates in a judged awards presentation.
Time Commitment Overview
30 min: Kickoff briefing, challenge overview, and rubric walk-through with the F3i team
3–5 hrs: Review submissions