about this event
Can 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, 2026 Where: Aggie Square, 4480 2nd Ave, Sacramento, CA Who: 200 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students, in teams of 5 to 7 formed before the event Build 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 Started 1. Register and join or form a team of 5 to 7 here on Devpost. 2. Join the event Discord for announcements, team coordination and support. 3. Attend the one-hour online orientation, about one week before the event. It covers the challenge, Keeboh and Devpost submissions. 4. Review the background materials, prior work summaries and starter notebooks. Test your Keeboh access ahead of time. 5. 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 Build - 9:00 a.m. Check-in opens, with refreshments and sponsor booths - 10:30 a.m. Building begins - 12:30 p.m. Lunch with sponsors - 3:00 p.m. Nearby hotel workspace opens for overnight building
Sunday, November 15: Build and Show - 9:00 a.m. Submissions close on Devpost - 10:00 a.m. Teams return to Aggie Square for sponsor sessions and career conversations - 11:30 a.m. Every team member present, and finalists announced - 12:15 p.m. Live finals begin - 1:50 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.
when
Hack the Harvest — Day 1: Discover and Build
Check-in opens at 9:00 a.m. with refreshments and sponsor booths. Building begins at 10:30 a.m. Lunch with sponsors at 12:30 p.m. Nearby hotel workspace opens at 3:00 p.m. for overnight building.
◍ Aggie SquareHack the Harvest — Day 2: Build and Show
Submissions close on Devpost at 9:00 a.m. Teams return to Aggie Square at 10:00 a.m. for sponsor sessions and career conversations. All team members present and finalists announced at 11:30 a.m. Live finals begin at 12:15 p.m. Awards and closing at 1:50 p.m., finished by 2:30 p.m.
◍ Aggie Squaretickets
| tickets | price | Fee | Status | description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Admission | Free | TBA | Available | Free registration for students participating in Hack the Harvest. |