Hackathon
Connecting Consumer Nutrition from Plant to Plate.
IFA was pleased to be host our first Hackathon, powered by Farm Hack and Wageningen University & Research, hosted at the IFAMA World Conference Cork, Ireland and online, 18 & 19 June 2026.
The winner was N Able.
Their idea: a traceability platform that follows nitrogen use efficiency across the food chain — from farmer to processor to food company to consumer.
In plain English: it could help consumers understand where their food comes from, and how efficiently nutrients were used to produce it.
The runner-up was N-Credit.
Their idea connects verified nitrogen use efficiency data to agricultural lending — so farmers who use nitrogen efficiently could potentially access cheaper finance, while banks get better data for sustainability reporting.
The winner of the online Hackathon was Nitrogen Field to Loaf, who created an interactive dashboard modelling nitrogen flows across 12 countries with reliability scored data sources.
Develop innovative solutions that track nutrient use efficiency across the entire food chain, from fertilizer application to human nutrition.
Industry leaders, researchers, entrepreneurs, early career professionals, students and graduates, are all invited to take part in a unique global hackathon focused on one of the most pressing challenges in agriculture and food systems today.
Tracking Nutrients Across the Food System.
Agriculture produces enough food to feed the world. Yet nutrient use efficiency across the food system remains poorly tracked and understood. Today, data across fertilizer production, farming, food processing, and nutrition is fragmented. However, consumers demand more transparency on sustainability and nutrition and farmers lack incentives and tools to track and optimize nutrient use efficiency.
Improving nutrient use efficiency could unlock major benefits:
Reduce nutrient losses and their related environmental and climate impacts.
Improve nutritional outcomes for consumers.
Create premium markets for sustainable food.
Reward farmers for efficient practices.
Enable powerful data-driven insights across the food system.
This is a rapidly emerging innovation area for both fertilizer and food companies, and you can help shape it!
Full information and registration link here.
The Challenges.
Participants will work in teams on 4 targeted challenges, each focused on nutrient use efficiency tracking across agri-food systems. (Full challenge details coming soon).
01
On-Farm Nutrient Application Data Gaps.
02
Tracking Nutrient Losses and Transformations.
03
Consumer- and Post-Farmgate Nutrient Pathways.
04
Integration with Existing Digital Traceability Ecosystems.
Jack Keeys
IFA Innovation Hub Program Manager
If you have questions, contact Jack Keeys.
For more information and to register, click here.