University of Idaho Researchers Travel to World Ag Expo in California to Assess Market Potential for Farm Technologies
A group of University of Idaho researchers carrying patented inventions and technologies traveled to the World Ag Expo in Tulare, California, earlier this week to engage in what the National Science Foundation calls “customer discovery” — a structured process of talking with farmers, manufacturers, and industry professionals to determine whether their inventions address real-world agricultural needs.
The annual World Ag Expo is the largest outdoor agricultural exposition of its kind, drawing more than 1,200 exhibitors and upwards of 100,000 attendees from around the world each year. For the U of I team, it was an ideal venue to gather unfiltered feedback from the people their technologies are designed to serve.
Researchers Listen First, Pitch Second
The U of I participants are affiliates of the National Science Foundation Invention Corps (I-Corps) program, a federally backed entrepreneurial training initiative that prepares scientists and engineers to identify commercial markets for their NSF-funded research. The program requires participants to conduct customer discovery before advancing toward commercialization.
Matthew Swenson, an associate professor of engineering at U of I, was among those who attended. Swenson holds a patent on a product he declined to publicly identify — the point of the exercise, he explained, was to learn whether a market exists without revealing what the product does.
“To determine if there is a potential market for the product we’ve invented, we’re basically wandering around the show talking to as many people in the field to understand whether or not they have pain points that the product we’ve developed potentially addresses,” Swenson said in remarks reported by the University of Idaho. “We were just getting people in the field to talk about their experiences, to ascertain whether or not we have a solution that could help them without ever telling them about the solution.”
Archibald Harner, U of I’s assistant vice president for research and director of the NSF I-Corps Hub for the region, emphasized that the exercise reflects a broader gap in how researchers are trained. “Most scientists are trained in research and discovery, not in market analysis or business development,” Harner said. “Without guidance on how to identify a customer base or scale a prototype, many inventions would simply remain as patents on a shelf rather than becoming products that benefit the public.”
SCARECRO Technology Targets Precision Agriculture
One of the standout inventions on the trip was SCARECRO — short for Sensor Collection and Remote Environment Care Reasoning Operation — developed by a team led by Mary Everett, associate director of the Center for Intelligent Industrial Robotics at U of I-Coeur d’Alene. The device is a data collection station placed directly in a farm field, fitted with sensors that monitor soil moisture, temperature, and humidity. Growers can access the data remotely to monitor crop conditions without being physically present in the field.
The SCARECRO system has already been deployed in a vineyard in Virginia and an agricultural operation in Sandpoint, Idaho. Everett said the expo feedback will directly shape the technology’s development going forward. “We talked to farmers and technology providers about how technology is used in the agricultural space — what it’s good for, where it’s being used, what people would like to see, and where the industry is going,” she said. “We plan to use the insights gained to help improve the wireless sensor network technology we’re developing.”
Davis Onyeoguzoro, a doctoral computer science student from U of I-Coeur d’Alene who serves on the SCARECRO team, said the most consistent concerns he heard at the expo centered on water management and the burden of government regulation on farming operations. “I learned what farmers actually need for their farms,” Onyeoguzoro said. “Most of the companies were trying to solve a water problem, and the second thing was how a government’s regulations affect farmers and organizations.”
The student noted that the experience offered more than just market data. “It’s actually good every once in a while, to step outside, touch the grass, talk to humans, not just computers,” he said.
U of I Patent Activity Surges in Technology Sector
The university’s broader technology commercialization footprint has grown considerably in recent years. According to Harner, more than 130 patents and plant variety protection certificates have been filed on behalf of the University of Idaho over the past two decades. While agricultural plant varieties — including potato and wheat types relevant to the Palouse region — dominated earlier filings, the past five years have seen a significant surge in technology-based patents.
“Since 2022 there has been a distinct shift toward computer science, robotics and advanced medical devices,” Harner said. He also pointed to a consistent trend of partnership with the Idaho National Laboratory, specifically in nuclear reactor safety, flow meters, and cyber-physical state awareness.
Thirty-eight U of I teams have completed the I-Corps program since 2023. The university’s investment in applied agricultural technology aligns with its land-grant mission and the economic realities of a region where Palouse wheat and lentil production remain central to Latah County’s identity. The federally supported I-Corps model may prove one of the more efficient paths to converting university research into tools that actually reach Idaho farms. For more on the university’s agricultural research funding, see the federal grant reinstatement for a University of Idaho agriculture project reported earlier this year.
For broader Idaho education and agriculture news, readers can follow coverage at Idaho News and the Idaho News Network.
What Comes Next
The U of I researchers will apply the customer discovery insights gathered at the World Ag Expo to refine and advance their respective inventions. Everett’s team plans to continue developing the SCARECRO wireless sensor network with an emphasis on making it easier for farmers to set up and use in precision agriculture applications. As I-Corps participation at the university continues to grow, additional teams are expected to pursue commercialization pathways for technologies developed through NSF-funded research.