FarmMind
FarmMind
ANAHEIM, Calif. — January 12, 2026 — FarmMind, a Baton Rouge-based startup that built an agricultural management platform powered by artificial intelligence, has won first place and the $100,000 grand prize at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s (AFBF) 2026 Ag Innovation Challenge, a national pitch competition hosted by the largest agricultural trade organization in the United States.
FarmMind competed against three other agricultural startups from around the country at AFBF’s annual convention in Anaheim, California, on Sunday, January 11th. The competition highlights startups developing solutions to improve efficiency, sustainability, and profitability across American agriculture.
FarmMind’s platform uses AI, specifically the company's proprietary "agricultural intelligence engine," to consolidate the fragmented landscape of agricultural software, regulations, and guidance into a single, commodity-aware system. By training its AI on trusted sources such as university extension research, EPA labels, and agronomic data, FarmMind provides growers and consultants with farm-specific answers that are faster and easier to access than traditional reference materials. The platform is built to be embedded into the workflows agricultural professionals use every day to help them optimize their operations and automate their back-office paperwork.
“Winning AFBF’s annual pitch competition is an incredible honor for our company, and a great opportunity to get the word out to agricultural professionals across the nation that modern tools are finally useful for agriculture,” said Colin Raby, CEO and co-founder of FarmMind. “Farmers and agricultural consultants are currently asked to navigate massive amounts of information that were never designed for quick, practical use. They also have to work through a mountain of documentation every season. Our goal with FarmMind is to bring clarity and confidence to the thousands of time-critical decisions ag professionals make every season, while keeping growers firmly in control of their data. FarmMind helps growers of all sizes—from small family farms to the largest operations—optimize their operations and automate their back-office work so they can save time, be more profitable, and focus on what matters most.”
The $100,000 prize will support FarmMind’s continued product development and expansion as it supports growers, consultants, and agricultural professionals across the country.
"Our team thanks the Louisiana Farm Bureau, LSU Innovation, the LSU College of Engineering, and the E.J. Ourso College of Business for their continued support in helping us reach this milestone. We also thank the American Farm Bureau Federation and competition sponsors Farm Credit, Bayer, John Deere, T-Mobile, Farm Bureau Financial Services, and Farm Bureau Bank for providing this platform to showcase agricultural innovation, meet folks from across the nation, and get the resources we need to accelerate our impact," said Raby.
See the American Farm Bureau Federation's press release here.
FarmMind.org is an agricultural intelligence platform designed to transform agricultural information into actionable intelligence for farmers, consultants, and ag-businesses. Founded by a team of LSU-trained engineers and agronomists, FarmMind’s Farmer AI assistant integrates real-time research, regulatory data, weather models, and GIS analysis to deliver verified, citation-backed recommendations. Its mission is to help every grower, agronomist, and researcher make faster, safer, and smarter decisions.
FarmMind’s core Agricultural Intelligence Engine is available via platform subscriptions, enterprise licensing, university collaborations, and API integrations.
To learn more, visit www.FarmMind.org or contact support@farmmind.org.
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