Hack the Harvest

About the ChallengeCan you tell what happened in a cornfield from space?Hack the Harvest is a two-day hackathon for students from any discipline, hosted by USDA, NVIDIA, the Center for Analytics and Technology in Society at UC Davis, and HMCI. Teams will use public geospatial data, AI and creative problem solving to answer a real USDA question: was a cornfield harvested for silage or for grain?Silage corn is usually harvested early, while it's still green. Grain corn usually stays in the field longer and dries down before harvest. That difference is subtle and noisy, and it's easy to miss from far away. But the signal is there. Can you find it?When:November 14 to 15, 2026Where:Aggie Square, 4480 2nd Ave, Sacramento, CAWho:200 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students, in teams of 5 to 7 formed before the eventBuild window:22.5 hours, from Saturday 10:30 a.m. to Sunday 9 a.m.You don't need to know how to code. Strong teams mix engineers, data scientists, and business and management thinkers.Get StartedRegister and join or form a team of 5 to 7 here on Devpost.Join the event Discord for announcements, team coordination and support.Attend the one-hour online orientation, about one week before the event. It covers the challenge, Keeboh and Devpost submissions.Review the background materials, prior work summaries and starter notebooks. Test your Keeboh access ahead of time.Bring a laptop, a charger and some curiosity.You can do background reading, team formation, account setup and access testing ahead of time. Competition work, challenge-specific model training and judged deliverables can't start until Saturday at 10:30 a.m.Schedule (All Times Pacific)Saturday, November 14: Discover and Build9:00 a.m. Check-in opens, with refreshments and sponsor booths10:30 a.m. Building begins12:30 p.m. Lunch with sponsors3:00 p.m. Nearby hotel workspace opens for overnight buildingSunday, November 15: Build and Show9:00 a.m. Submissions close on Devpost10:00 a.m. Teams return to Aggie Square for sponsor sessions and career conversations11:30 a.m. Every team member present, and finalists announced12:15 p.m. Live finals begin1:50 p.m. Awards and closing, finished by 2:30 p.m.To stay eligible for overall awards, every team member must check in individually at Aggie Square by 11:30 a.m. Sunday and stay through the awards ceremony. Emergency or accessibility exceptions need approval from the event lead.