Syngenta Has $50,000 Contest for Ag-Entrepeneurs

Aspiring ag entrepreneurs: Have a good idea but no money to start? Listen up; there’s a contest for you.

Syngenta is going to be giving away a total of $50,000 to those who want to start bringing their ag-ideas to reality. The Good Growth Plan Grant Contest will give a grand prize of $20,000, and three runners-up $10,000.

“Last fall, Syngenta launched around the world The Good Growth Plan, agriculture’s most ambitious and comprehensive program to help sustainably address the global food security challenge,” said Jill Wheeler, Syngenta head of sustainable productivity in North America. “As part of this effort, we have been asking others to be involved. Now we are reaching out broadly in North America with this contest to find truly innovative ideas.”

Syngenta’s given six guidelines, of which your idea has to address one or more.

1. Make crops more efficient – increase the average productivity of the world’s major crops by 20 percent without using more land, water or inputs
2. Rescue more farmland – improve the fertility of nearly 25 million acres of farmland on the brink of degradation
3. Help biodiversity flourish – enhance the biodiversity on more than 12 million acres of farmland
4. Empower smallholder farmers – reach 20 million smallholders and enable them to increase productivity by 50 percent
5. Help people stay safe – train 20 million farm workers on labor safety, especially in developing countries
6. Look after every worker – strive for fair labor conditions throughout our entire supply chain network

The deadline submission is July 14^th, so get going.

FEATURED PHOTO: Erich Ferdinand/Flickr