Dates

  • Registration: open now on Devpost. Teams form in Keeboh.
  • Livestream Q&A: Friday, November 13, 5:00 p.m. Pacific, on Microsoft Teams
  • Hackathon: Saturday, November 14 to Sunday, November 15, 2026, at Aggie Square, 4480 2nd Ave, Sacramento, CA
  • Build window: Saturday 10:30 a.m. to Sunday 9:00 a.m. Pacific
  • Submission deadline: Sunday, November 15, 9:00 a.m. Pacific
  • Presentations and awards: Sunday, November 15. Team presentations run from 9:30 a.m. to noon, and awards are at 1:00 p.m. Pacific.

Eligibility

  • Open to currently enrolled Sacramento area college students, including undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students in any discipline, such as engineering, computer science, data science, business, management and agriculture.
  • Teams have 5 to 7 students and form in Keeboh, which requires a .edu email. Students can register at Saturday check-in and get help finding a team, but placement is not guaranteed.
  • The event is limited to 200 student places.
  • Every participant must check in individually at Aggie Square by 9:30 a.m. Saturday. After building starts at 10:30 a.m., participants may work from anywhere. Every participant must be back and checked in by 9:30 a.m. Sunday. Emergency or accessibility exceptions need approval from the event lead.

Project and Submission Requirements

  • Projects must distinguish silage cornfields from grain cornfields using only publicly available geospatial data.
  • All competition work must happen during the build window. Before Saturday at 10:30 a.m., teams may only do background reading, team formation, account setup and access testing with the designated practice examples. Challenge-specific model training and judged deliverables must not begin early.
  • Each team must submit in Keeboh by Sunday at 9:00 a.m. Pacific. No video is required. Each team prepares a 5 minute presentation for Sunday.
  • Late submissions will not be judged.
  • Use of NVIDIA Nemotron is optional.

Prizes

  • Grand Prize: $5,000 cash, awarded to the top team overall as selected by the judges
  • Nemotron Award: $600 in NVIDIA Brev credits, awarded to the team that makes the best use of NVIDIA Nemotron, chosen by NVIDIA. Open to all teams.
  • GPU Raffle: NVIDIA will raffle two RTX 5080 GPUs at the 1:00 p.m. awards ceremony. Raffle tickets are handed out at Sunday check-in. You must be present at the drawing to win, and there's one GPU per person. NVIDIA ships prizes to winners after the event.
  • Teams with at least 5 members checked in on both days can compete for all prizes. Teams with fewer than 5 can compete for the Nemotron Award, but not the Grand Prize. You must be present to win any prize.

Judging Criteria and Winner Selection

Every team presents for 5 minutes, with no Q&A, in Keeboh submission order. Judges score each team live in Keeboh using the USDA judging rubric, for a total of 25 points:

  • Technical Quality (scored 1 to 5, 20%): Did the team generate business insights from a well trained model, measure metrics like Precision, Recall, False Positive Rate and Response Time against evaluation data, and create a modeling strategy that shows technical maturity?
  • Innovation and Creativity (scored 1 to 5, 20%): Was the approach unexpected or well executed in a new way? Did the team incorporate a new data source or harvest signal to improve their prediction scores?
  • Feasibility and Mission Alignment (scored 1 to 5, 20%): How well does the prototype address the silage-like or grain-like corn field predictions? Does this have potential to be developed further?
  • Presentation (scored 1 to 10, 40%): Was the team effective in demonstrating the solution and its value? Did they explain their process and how it could be developed further?

Ties go to the team with the higher Presentation score.

Code of Conduct

Hack the Harvest is a space for students from every discipline to learn, build and collaborate. All participants, mentors, judges, partners, volunteers and staff must follow this code of conduct at every event space: Aggie Square, the overnight hotel workspace, Discord, Devpost, Keeboh and any other event channel.

Expected Behavior

  • Treat everyone with respect, whatever their background, identity, discipline or experience level.
  • Collaborate generously and give credit for others' ideas and work.
  • Welcome teammates with different skill sets. Coders and non-coders are equally valued.
  • Follow the instructions of event staff, venue staff and hotel staff.
  • Look out for one another, and tell staff if someone needs help.

Unacceptable Behavior

  • Harassment, intimidation or discrimination of any kind, including offensive comments, slurs or unwelcome jokes
  • Unwelcome physical contact, sexual attention or advances
  • Stalking, following, or photographing or recording someone without their consent
  • Sexual or violent language or imagery in presentations, projects or event channels
  • Disrupting talks, judging, mentoring or other teams' work
  • Plagiarism, using prohibited data, or starting competition work before the build window opens
  • Possessing or being under the influence of illegal substances, or drinking alcohol if underage
  • Damaging or misusing venue, hotel or partner property

Consequences

Organizers may take any action they consider appropriate, including a warning, removal from the event or its online channels, or disqualification from judging and prizes. Serious incidents may be reported to the participant's institution, venue security or law enforcement.

Reporting

If you experience or witness a violation, or feel unsafe, contact event staff right away:

  • In person: find any staff member at the check-in desk or at the hotel workspace
  • Online: send a direct message to an organizer on Discord
  • Email: [email protected]
  • Emergencies: call 911

All reports will be handled promptly and as confidentially as possible. Retaliation against anyone who reports a concern is prohibited.

By participating in Hack the Harvest, you agree to follow this code of conduct.