Traceability in Row Crops
Open Innovation Challenge:
New and emerging technology collects massive amounts of data, yet the insights needed to drive on-field decisions remains limited. Our goal with this challenge is to find companies that are turning the corner from collecting data to generating insights growers are willing to adopt and use. More specifically, we are looking for platforms that bring together practices, products, and ground truth to support and promote climate smart commodities.
Reason for Seeking External Innovation Partnership:
Traceability in row crops will require an external partnership model that integrates data from disparate technologies. We need solutions that can track and trace from the field to the fork, while at the same time optimize crop inputs, procurement, delivery, inventory management, and record & verify sustainable practices. To be successful, we will need to partner with external companies across the value chain who can promote standardization of data across the entire tech stack, including but not limited to seed, nutrition and protection inputs, machine data, and regenerative practices.
Scope of Solution Space:
Focus on broad acre row crops.
Solutions Not of Interest:
Ease of adoption and value to the grower is critical. Solutions that result in more work for owners and customers will not work. Solutions that require extensive manual entry are not of interest.
Company Background:
CHS is the largest farmer-owned cooperative in the United States. We provide our owners and customers the goods, services, and energy needed to plant and grow broad acre row crops. At harvest, we come back and buy the grain produced from those crops. We process some of the grain ourselves, some with partners, and the rest we ship to customers around the world. We do all this through a robust and continuously improving supply chain. To give a sense for our size and scale, CHS owns 50% of the grain elevators west of the Mississippi river. In addition, CHS provides 50% of the energy needs of rural America through refined fuels, lubricants, and propane products. As the energy landscape evolves, CHS is dedicated to evolution and aims to provide sustainable energy products and solutions for our owners and customers.