Agriculture analytics, new multimedia portal

Syngenta, INFORMS offer Crop Challenge

The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), the leading professional association in analytics and operations research, and Syngenta, recently announced a new, joint award, the Syngenta Crop Challenge, which will focus on ways that analytics can address the problem of feeding millions of people throughout the world who face hunger every day.

“This new competition will give our members the chance to apply their considerable talent in analytics to the terrible worldwide problem of hunger and poverty,” says Glenn Wegryn, president of the Analytics Section of INFORMS and executive director of the Center for Business Analytics at the University of Cincinnati Carl H. Lindner College of Business.

The Analytics Section of INFORMS, comprising academics and practitioners, promotes the integration of a wide range of analytical techniques and supports activities that illuminate significant innovations and achievement in the growing field of analytics.

Nearly 7 million hectares of farmland are lost to soil erosion every year. Many people who produce the world’s food are living in poverty. Biodiversity is disappearing fast. And the challenge won’t get any easier; by 2050, for example, 4 billion people will be living in countries with water scarcity.

“At Syngenta, we bring plant potential to life by supporting farmers in the field with the very best seed trait, crop protection and seed treatment technology in industry,” says Joseph Byrum, Syngenta head of soybean seeds product development and leader of the Syngenta Crop Challenge. “Our commitment to innovation is unrivalled in the industry. We’re fundamentally transforming agricultural productivity through the use of operations research, as evidenced by our Edelman win, and we’re looking for exceptional talent to work with us through this challenge.”

Each year farmers have to make decisions about what crops to plant given uncertainties in expected weather conditions and knowledge about the soil at their respective farms. These decisions have important impacts; an unusual weather pattern can have disastrous impacts on crops, but planting to hedge against stressful weather patterns can dramatically reduce yields in normal years.

How can a farmer make seed variety decisions that optimally reduce risk and increase yield?

This is a question that experts in analytics and operations research can address by competing to win the new Syngenta Crop Challenge.

Case details will be announced at the 2015 INFORMS Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, which takes place Nov. 1-4. Teams must submit their report by January 2016. Finalists will be announced in March 2016. Finalists will make their presentation at the INFORMS Conference on Business Analytics and Operations Research in Orlando, Fla., set for April 10-12, 2016. Following the presentations, the winner of the inaugural Crop Challenge will be announced and will receive a $5,000 prize.

For more information, visit: http://www.ideaconnection.com/syngenta-crop-challenge/.

Note: Syngenta won the 2015 Franz Edelman Award for achievement in operations research and the management sciences for its “Good Growth Through Advanced Analytics” program. The Edelman, considered the “Super Bowl” of advanced analytics application, was presented by INFORMS.

Editor’s Cut: New online multimedia portal

Leveraging the expertise of its operations research and analytics thought leaders, INFORMS Editor’s Cut is a comprehensive online multimedia portal designed to enrich the knowledge base of those interested in leading-edge analytics and operations research applied across a variety of topics. Each collection brings together key analytical insights and innovations from leading academics and practitioners on relevant topics through a multimedia experience. Introductory material and substantial research and industry contributions provide something from beginners who want the big picture to those who are looking for leading-edge research.

Editor’s Cut is organized around topic areas that are new or rapidly evolving – where books or review articles likely haven’t been developed. The bundle of multimedia materials is useful for a broad range of INFORMS members and a wider audience including the press. While effective for accessing the vast wealth of INFORMS content, the volumes go further to include publications, references and media from other sources, such as magazine articles or TED talks.

One goal of Editor’s Cut is to anchor its subject matter area with a timely INFORMS conference theme, providing a connection to ideas and presentations that represent work that may not be in print for months. For example, the inaugural volume, released July 27, is focused on healthcare analytics and was developed as part of the 2015 INFORMS Healthcare Conference held in Nashville. Beyond the journal and magazine articles, videos, TED talks and podcasts, Volume 1 also contains segments recorded at the conference including interviews with industry leaders.

The collection is made available in an open access format for all INFORMS members. As a member service, INFORMS members need not have subscriptions to all of the journals represented in the volume. Additionally, relevant conference attendees who are nonmembers will receive a time-limited token to access the entire volume. The general public will be able to access already openly available information as well as abstracts to academic articles. The goal is to provide a sophisticated yet simple-to-use platform for exploration. In addition to its compelling content and sleek user experience, what makes Editor’s Cut a unique and powerful resource are the INFORMS experts leading and curating the collection.

Over the next months, Editor’s Cut will continue to evolve, incorporating the social media platform INFORMS Connect for complementary dialogues on the various topics. New volumes of Editor’s Cut will explore a range of ideas such as: sports, climate change/weather, big data, politics/social uprising/elections, humanitarianism, disaster preparedness/epidemics, information security/privacy, food/agriculture/farming and drones (delivery)/autonomous cars.