DARPA announced its new initiative Ag x BTO will be soliciting new, innovative ideas to protect the nation’s food supply.
DARPA’s Biological Technologies Office (BTO) said protecting the agriculture industry in America against both naturally occurring and man-made threats is a national security priority. Ag x BTO Special Topic Area will seek ways to protect against threats in five areas – advances to early warning systems for chemical and biological threat surveillance and detection; rapid-response agricultural countermeasures to defend against threats; accelerated and expanded crop protections; integrated and comprehensive threat prediction and modeling for agricultural systems; and novel methods to assess the occurrence of human intervention.
“Our goal is to catalyze future innovation in agricultural defense throughout the supply chain,” Michael Koeris, director of DARPA’s Biological Technologies Office, said. “We are looking for disruptive solutions that can be rapidly acquired and deployed to protect our nation’s food security.”
The topic area will be open for submissions through Aug. 31. DARPA said it may select teams to attend a workshop and follow-on pitch day in Washington, D.C. Submissions must be made through the ERIS Marketplace. Submission will require a video pitch, supplemental slides, and a submission form, and must address one of the five technical areas outlined in the problem statement. Submission instructions will be made available online at SAM.gov.