Submit your innovative solution by 25 August 2025 to unlock value, empower farmers and revolutionize data!
Selected startups will have the opportunity to pitch at the FAO Science and Innovation Forum in Rome (13-17 October 2025) and Y Science signature side event of Slush in Helsinki (19-20 November 2025) and access and use FAO’s and partner’s valuable data sets
Unlock Value, Empower Farmers and Revolutionize Data!
FAO and the University of Helsinki’s Viikki Food Design Factory have launched the global Data for Farm Value Challenge to support startups using farm-level data in innovative ways. The goal is to unlock value for smallholder farmers, who often generate key insights but are left out of the data-driven agrifood economy.
The connection between agricultural data and smallholder farmers is in dire need to be strengthened. To unlock its innovative potential, we are seeking fair business models that have the capacity to include smallholder farmers in the compensation mechanisms in the data ecosystem surrounding the agrifood world.
Startups are invited to:
Develop scalable digital solutions that render, and structure data generated at the farm-level in a usable, useful and more commonly used format.
Create/Propose business models where farmers are included and fairly compensated for their data contributions, i.e. business models capturing value also for the farmers as data producers.
Facilitate the integration of farm-level data into the supply chain, sustainability, and market access platforms
Design transparent mechanisms that enable farmers to sell or trade data while maintaining ownership
Connect farm-level data with broader public and private sector initiatives to drive sustainability and economic value across the value chain
