West Hills Community College announced it has pushed back the first “Apps for Ag” coding competition to later this spring. The event was originally scheduled to take place Feb. 20-22 at the West Hills Coalinga campus, but has been moved to April 17-19. 

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“Apps for Ag generated a lot of enthusiasm,” said Clint Cowden, director of Farm of the Future at West Hills College Coalinga. “Many people around California said they would be glad to pitch in and make the trip to the San Joaquin Valley if the event was later in the spring.”

The college made the announcement this week during the World Ag Expo in Tulare. The “hackathon” is designed to bring together young farmers and coders in order to create open-source apps and solve real problems in the agricultural industry. 

At the end of the two-day event, teams will showcase their ingenuity in front of a judging panel composed of experienced farmers and investors. Apps for Ag is sponsored by California Community Colleges, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agrian, gThrive, California Coast Crop Consulting, California Ag Solutions and TerraVerde Renewable Partners. 

“Hackathons are a great way to spur innovation in industry verticals where technology has not been fully adopted,” said Rob Trice, one of the competition’s judges and founder of the Mixing Bowl and Better Food Ventures.

More information about the event, registration and the new date is available here.