Small Farm Innovation Challenge

Farmers need right-sized technology. 

Tools and technology can help farmers improve efficiency, save labor and connect with their customers. But many of the innovations in agriculture today are being built for large-scale production, out of reach for most family farms all while contributing to ecological degradation and yet more consolidation in the industry, perpetuating a vicious cycle. Despite America’s technological progress, every day 4 farms go out of business. Creeping ever-upward at an alarming rate, the average age of farmers has now surpassed 60. Meanwhile, many of those farms that do stay afloat are doing so at a loss. Over half of our nation’s farms report negative net income. Coupled with a “get big or get out” ideology, it would seem that technology has left smaller farms behind, all to the detriment of rural economies, social equity and even the health, sustainability and quality of our food. But does it have to be this way?

We envision a landscape where appropriate technology for small farms is understood by all AgTech stakeholders and more investment is focused towards the needs of small-scale producers.  This Challenge works to increase access to appropriate technologies for the small farmer and to support innovators in expanding access to their products/services, especially for those looking to sell, scale, or expand overall knowledge sharing and partnerships. 

Whether you’re an engineer or just a crafty farmer, a startup or a team of grad students, we’re challenging you to share or develop a new innovation that can help smaller-scale farms compete, survive and thrive. From hardware to software, mechanical harvesters to marketing apps, we’re seeking proposals for technologies that will help level the playing field, strengthen local food systems and promote on-farm sustainability. Submissions will be evaluated by a panel of judges representing farmers, investors, entrepreneurs and the tech industry. Winners will be showcased at the Small Farms Conference as well as at several other agricultural conferences, in video and online with the aim of helping shine a light on your innovation and you make your bright idea a reality.

This Challenge is open to global submissions and can include individuals, teams, students and start-up businesses. Please note that the bulk of promotion and recognition will take place in California, which is the nation’s largest agricultural state producing over 400 commodities at nearly $50 billion.

Three winners will be announced in February 2026. Current and previous winners of the Challenge will also be invited to showcase their innovation at the annual Small Farm Tech Expo.

Submissions will be accepted in any phase of development but must be received before December 31, 2025 11:59pm PST and only completed applications will be reviewed.  Please only submit one submission per applicant/company and we strongly encourage the innovator themselves to provide the information. You may reapply every year. 

Submissions will be judged by CAFF staff and selection committee members based on the attributes below. Please read “SELECTION” for more details. 

• Long-term relevance
• Fits the overall spirit of the competition
• Quality and clarity of supporting documents
• Viability
• Provides solutions to the common challenges experienced by farmers
• Novelty
• Promotes the economic viability of smaller-scale farm businesses
• Adaptability to a variety of farm systems and circumstances
• Repairable / adjustable by user
• Ease of use
• Promotes ecologically sustainable farm practices
• Increases farm capabilities for business management, marketing, and access to local food economies

The winner of the 2019 Small Farm Innovation Challenge was The Farm Hand Tractor.

2022 winners featured HarvestPath, Hand-E, and the No-dig Removable Endpost.

Press release featuring 2023 winners. 

Press release featuring 2024 winners. 

Examples of Relevant Categories and Farmers Needs:

• Harvesting and planting tools
• Soil management & monitoring
• Sales, Inventory Management & Tracking software
• Wash & Pack
• Record Keeping
• Fencing, On-farm Energy, Livestock Management Tools
• Poultry Equipment
• Irrigation & Water Systems
• Season Extension, Crop Storage
• Weeding Tools

Submissions will be accepted through our online application portal and must be received before the deadline, December 31, 2025 11:59pm PST.

Multiple winners will be selected by a committee of individuals representing the small farm agricultural sector.  The cash prize will be split amongst the winners. 

Each application will be reviewed by CAFF staff and complete applications will move to next stage of review. Selection committee members will review applications and provide a score based on the rubric listed below. 

DIY Innovators:  Graded focused on overall practicality and accessibility for the small farmer. Innovations should be reproducible, provide price information, and parts should be easy to get.

Software & Hardware Innovators: Graded on readiness to tackle the more complex challenges facing the small farm community.  The Innovation is a marketable product that can be scaled nationally or globally, have a clear customer base and is relatively unique. 

All Applications:

• Holds long-term relevance
• Fits the overall spirit of the competition
• • Supports long-term success of small scale producers vs. corporate consolidation.
  • Leads to positive benefits to health of planet and people vs continued resource extraction and ecological degradation.
  • Addresses growing concerns around tech and data sovereignty.
• Quality and clarity of supporting documents
  • Additional clarifying documents are provided to further explain the innovation. Documents could be short videos, slides, blueprints, etc.
• Viability
  • What is the demand?
  • How competitive will it be in the current marketplace?
• Provides solutions/relief to the challenges experienced by farmers?
  
  • Does it save the farmer time?
  • Does the innovation help alleviate pressure and challenges farmers face from drought, wildfires, shortage of labor, high costs for inputs, land access, etc?
• Novelty
  • Does the product/service already exist? 

• Promotes ecologically sustainable farm practices
  • Does it promote any of the following practices?
    • Integrated pest management
    • Reduces GHG emissions
    • Builds soil and plant biomass (compost, no-till, etc)
    • Conserves natural resources (water, topsoil)
    • Cover crops, hedgerows, etc
    • Integrated crop, livestock management
    • Reduced fertilizer runoff
• Increases farm capabilities for business management, marketing, and access to local food economies:
  
  • Will it improve market access or increase market channels?
  • Does it support with increasing sales?
  • Will it help build a stronger community food network?
  • Can it be applied to any local food system community?

$10,000 in cash prizes to the winners. Additional supplemental prizes are being provided in the areas of business, marketing, and legal support services. Winners will receive recognition at small farm conferences, agriculture publications, etc. 

Innovation Challenge winners will have the opportunity to present their innovation to a wide audience including conferences such as the Small Farms Conference. Winners will be celebrated via social media and to CAFF’s broad-based audience of farmers, agricultural and food industry professionals, and small farm advocates.

Momentum and attention gained from this challenge can help propel your innovation into new avenues and help make important connections. The winner of the 2019 Innovation Challenge, FarmHand Tractor has now made his idea a business reality and was selected as a 2021 cohort member of the business accelerator program Food System 6 and the Amiga Tractor (2023 winner) has received substantial investments from venture capital firms. 

Over $10,000 in cash prizes will be presented to the 2026 winners. Please note that cash prize amounts depend on number of winners and vary year-to-year depending on sponsorships and fundraising. 

Jennifer Bantle, Avocado Farmer, Bantle Family Farms

Jennifer is a 14 year avocado farmer in San Diego County as well as a farmer advocate. Not knowing anything about farming when she started, she learned a lot the hard way while resurrecting a 12 acre hillside hass avocado farm with 1000 almost dead trees that are now producing and thriving. The farm navigates the constant fluctuations in the market due to cheap imports while paying the highest cost of water in the nation. She is a hands on farmer alongside her husband and was a award recipient of the 2024-25 Challenge. She is looking forward to seeing what other farmers like her have invented. “Go for it!” 

Clebson Goncalves, Diversified Agricultural Systems Area Advisor, University of California Cooperative Extension

Organic Strategies, Emerging Agriculture Technologies

Goncalves educational background consists of studies focused on horticulture, weed sciences in a wide range of environments (Ph.D. in agronomy, plant production, weed science). As a UC Cooperative Extension Diversified Agricultural Systems Area Advisor, he supports the development, maintenance, and sustainability of diversified agriculture and small farmers. In their program, they explore emerging technologies that address the critical needs of productivity and sustainability. Their research and extension program’s primary goal is to meet the growing demands and contribute to the success of small-scale farms. 

Patrick Koppula, Advisor, Coach, Fractional Executive at Innovate for Society

Innovation systems and innovation leadership

Patrick is a wide-ranging expert in innovation systems and a practitioner of innovation leadership with a background in entrepreneurship, design thinking, and systems science. Patrick earned a bachelor’s in Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard University, founded successful innovation economy businesses, and served as a White House Presidential Innovation Fellow. Patrick has dedicated their career to fostering innovation and collaboration that cultivates inclusive prosperity.

Having come to believe that increasing the viability of small farms will result in higher food system resilience in the face of pandemics and other emergencies, Patrick is adapting their innovation expertise to focus on the decentralized agricultural landscape. The will extend Patrick’s support of technology that empowers small-scale enterprises to thrive.

Samuel Oslund, Director of Ag Tech at 11th Hour Project

Tech development and research

Samuel focuses on supporting the development of technologies that advance agroecology and food sovereignty movements. Prior to joining the 11th Hour Project, Samuel was leading a Farm Hack initiative to strengthen international collaboration between researchers, technologists, and farmer-led organizations working on open-source agricultural technology. His background in participatory tool development is grounded in 13 years of organic farming and grassroots organizing in Montreal.

Hector Reider, Senior Manager of Farm to Market at Community Alliance with Family Farmers

Sustainability, Protected Agriculture, Precision Agriculture

With a Master’s in Urban Environmental Management and experience implementing and providing precision agriculture consulting services with IoT technology, designing urban growing systems and protected agriculture projects, Hector worked to support sustainability in the field of Agriculture. In his current work, he supports small producers by providing technical assistance and working closely with them to move their products through the value chain. 

Maria Ridoutt-Orozco, Small Farm Tech Advisor at Community Alliance with Family Farmers

Sustainable Ag Technology

Maria is CAFF’s newest addition to the Small Farm Tech Hub, and with years of experience in sustainable agriculture in Peru, Japan and California, Maria brings a fresh perspective to the Innovation Challenge. She holds a B.S. in Environmental Engineering and complementary studies in Innovation and Technology from Utah State University and MIT.

Flor Sanchez y Lucy Gill, Semillero de Ideas

Creative Product Development

Semillero de Ideas is a non-profit dedicated to engaging farmworkers to lead and foster innovation in agriculture and two members of their team will be judging for this year’s Challenge. Flor has worked in agriculture for 11 years and has extensive experiences with tree fruits including apples, pears, cherries, and grapes. She developed a tool for apple blossom thinning using only a fork and a stick, and later, worked with engineering students to develop a more functional prototype. Flor sees the future of agriculture innovation being centered around new strategies of working that make the work faster. She takes pride in her work and hopes to make agriculture less burdensome and safer. 

Lucy is Semillero de Ideas’ coordinator of innovation and technology. She conducts farmworker outreach and connects them with the tools they need to take their ideas from an abstract thought into a real prototype and beyond. She is currently working on developing a mobile tech hub to bring innovative technology to rural farming communities in Washington state.  

Moet Takaka, Ecological Pest Management Program Manager at Community Alliance with Family Farmers

Pest Management

As part of CAFF’s Ecological Pest Management Program, Moet supports farmers to implement ecological pest management practices through on-the-ground research and farmer-driven co-learning. She graduated from UC Berkeley with a Bachelor’s degree in Molecular Environmental Biology. During her time there, she participated in research on soil health in No-Till systems and on biological control with parasite wasps on urban farms, and developed an interest in geographical information systems (GIS). Currently her work focuses on pest management in walnuts and wine grapes.  

Elizabeth Vaughan, Tech Hub Specialist at Community Alliance with Family Farmers

Appropriate Technology for Small Farms

Elizabeth brings over 15 years of experience in strengthening healthy, just, and sustainable food systems. At CAFF she manages the Small Farm Tech Hub, supporting farmers across California with their technology and business needs. Elizabeth’s education is in business economics from UC Santa Barbara and sustainable horticulture from Cuyamaca College. She also stewards her family’s five-acre ranch located in San Diego County.

Josh Volk, Owner/Operator at Slow Hand Farm

Systems for Small Farms

Josh Volk consults, writes, and teaches workshops on vegetable production under the name Slow Hand Farm and runs Cully Neighborhood Farm, a small urban CSA farm in Portland, Oregon. He is a regular contributor to Growing For Market and the Author of the books Build Your Own Farm Tools, and Compact Farms: 15 Proven Plans for Market Farms on 5 Acres or Less. He has been farming in the Pacific Northwest for over 20 years and before that he worked on farms in California, the Southwest, and the Northeast. He has a degree in mechanical engineering and started farming because he saw it as a way to combine his interests in social justice, care for the environment and eating well.

Evan Wiig, Director of Membership & Communications at Community Alliance with Family Farmers

Amplifying the voice of family farmers, organizing the grassroots, preaching a gospel of healthy soils.

Lisa Yeo, Assistant Professor at UC Merced

Security, Privacy, & User Experience

Dr. Lisa Yeo is an Assistant Professor in the Ernest & Julio Management Program at UC Merced. She is a collaborative problem solver who helps decision makers understand their operational challenges and identify solutions. Her focus is on the use of information systems and technology (IS/IT) to address social and organizational needs while also examining the new problems that IS/IT can create, especially with respect to information security and privacy. She challenges students and industry to consider the security and privacy impacts of IS/IT so that they can build a solid foundation and respect for different experiences with technology.AE