Teams set the bar high with their results
The winning team
The winning team came together across four countries — Morocco, Afghanistan, the US, and the UK — without ever meeting in person. Their project, 𝗡𝗶𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗲𝗻 𝗙𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗟𝗼𝗮𝗳, built an interactive dashboard modelling nitrogen flows across 12 countries, drawing on multiple global data sources each scored for reliability.
Their headline finding: only 33% of the nitrogen applied to grow wheat in Western Europe reaches the consumer as food.
Quotes from participants
I am pleased to have participated in the FarmHackNL Hackathon, where I collaborated with an international team to develop innovative ideas for improving nutrient-use efficiency and shelf life in crops.
The experience was a great opportunity to exchange ideas with participants from diverse backgrounds, strengthen my understanding of sustainable agriculture challenges, and explore how plant breeding and genome editing can contribute to future food systems.
(LinkedIn)
One week, one hard question: where does nitrogen actually go between the field and your plate?
I joined the IFA Nutrient Use Efficiency Tracking Hackathon to tackle exactly that. Our team built “Nitrogen: Field to Loaf” — an interactive research dashboard tracking nitrogen use efficiency across the full wheat supply chain, from fertilizer application to the consumer.
The headline finding: only 32.9% of the nitrogen applied to grow wheat in Western Europe reaches a consumer as food. The rest is lost to the environment and food waste — and no country currently tracks this continuously from field to plate.
In one intense week we:
🌾 Modelled nitrogen flows across 12 countries
🔍 Audited 36 data sources and mapped the 7 critical data gaps that prevent accurate measurement
📊 Built interactive tools — including a Sankey flow explorer tracing every gram of nitrogen from soil to slice, and a hands-on “Bread Challenge”.
Watch the walkthrough below. 🎥
Huge thanks to my brilliant teammates Rachel Fields, Audrey Geise and Aya Mihfad — it was a privilege to build this with you. Thank you to [..]🙏
This is exactly where I believe agriculture is heading: transparent, data-driven chains from soil to meal — the same thread running through my work with ZaminAI and precision agriculture. (linkedin)