Since 2018, Victor Y. ’25, Victor S. ’25, and Lewis F. ’25 have been volunteering on a local farm in Princeton, New Jersey; every April through August, they spend a few hours every other weekend planting and watering produce like cabbage, tomatoes, carrots, and corn. In the spring of 2020, they returned to the farm to harvest tomatoes and were devastated to see that over ⅓ were unharvestable.
Frustrated by the loss of their tomato plants, the three worked to replant new seeds and monitor the soil quality. In 2023, they learned of the Diamond Challenge, an entrepreneurial competition hosted by the University of Delaware. Eager to join, they began brainstorming ideas for an app that would solve a problem; after reflecting on their own problems that they have faced, they were reminded of the spring of 2020 and a lightbulb went off. After seven months of developing and testing the app, they entered Crop Clinic into the Diamond Challenge – an artificial intelligence based app that uses image recognition to detect agricultural diseases on plants; once diagnosed, Crop Clinic provides a treatment plan.