Feeding the planet through student solutions

The Texas A&M University College of Engineering hosted the 8th annual Invent for the Planet (IFTP), a high-stakes, 48-hour design competition that challenges students to tackle some of the world’s most pressing issues. Held simultaneously at universities around the world from Feb. 27 through March 1, the competition fosters collaboration and a deep understanding of global challenges, leading to innovations that transcend borders.

Global food systems are under unprecedented pressure. Population growth, water scarcity, soil degradation, disruptions in global supply chains, and social and economic inequalities increasingly challenge the world’s ability to sustainably produce, distribute and consume food. The event’s theme, “Reimagining Food Systems for a Resilient Planet,” tasked eight student teams with solving these issues.  

Comprised of students who had never met, these teams worked over the course of two days to connect provided need statements with specific problems. They addressed these challenges with creative and actionable ideas to combat food waste, strengthen crop resilience and create more sustainable food production. 

Sustainably protecting food

For the first-place team HexCrate, food waste became more than a financial concern. Across sub-Saharan Africa, an estimated 40–50% of harvested tomatoes and fresh produce never reach consumers due to damage during transport. Tomatoes packed loosely in raffia baskets crush each other through vibration, compression and impact on rough rural roads. This wastes food, costs distributors money and contributes to vitamin A deficiency in malnourished communities.

“Reducing postharvest losses by just 25% could provide enough vitamin A through local food systems to prevent vitamin A deficiency in tens of thousands of children,” said Micah Mathew, a senior in the materials science and engineering department. “The problem isn’t farming — it’s what happens after the harvest on the way to the plate.”

The team designed HexCrate, a produce tray that holds tomatoes in hexagonal cells built out of bio-degradable cardboard. The hexagonal shape of each cell keeps fruits from damaging each other while in transit and evenly distributes the load across the entire tray. Not only does it eliminate food waste, but each tray is made from cassava waste, an agricultural product produced at over 200,000 tons per year in Africa. This makes it an ideal material to be turned into bio-degradable cardboard, a sustainable process that would cost only 35 cents per tray.

“Reframing our product from a tomato-saving measure to a child-saving measure changed everything about what we were doing, and ultimately how the judges received it,” Matthew said. “There’s something irreplaceable about the moment a pile of research and a half-built prototype suddenly become a story worth telling.”

Drying grain and freezer gains

The second-place team, VacuGrain, turned their focus to drying grain, a crucial task for many farmers. While traditional drying techniques can take up to five weeks to complete, VacuGrain uses a repeating vacuum pump and heated air cycle to remove moisture from grain and completely dry it in just eight hours.

By cutting down the drying time, farmers would be able to move more grain to market more quickly, reducing the cost of a bushel from 30 cents to 3 cents. Due to the design of VacuGrain, it would excel in many different climates, making it an accessible option for farmers across the world.

Team Budget Bites, winner of the third-place award, noticed that 30% of food produced across the globe is wasted annually, and the restaurant industry is one of the culprits. With roughly 20 pounds of food wasted every day, restaurants are incurring an average loss of $210 per day and missing opportunities to feed more people. Budget Bites targeted this problem with a blast freezer and mobile app combo.

Using a blast freezer, restaurants could quickly freeze food that otherwise would’ve been thrown away and then allow it to be ordered online for pick-up through their mobile app. The food would be sold frozen and ready to cook or reheat to customers at a reduced rate. By using Budget Bites, restaurants would cut down on food waste, turn lost revenue into gained revenue, and improve food access to the community. 

Future innovation

As the first-place winners, team HexCrate will submit their pitch video for a chance to be one of six international teams participating in the 2026 IFTP international finals. While only a few move on to the finals, Matthew encourages students to take part in the next IFTP event or its monthly counterpart, Aggies Invent.

“If you come in thinking your technical skills are your biggest asset, you will be humbled,” Mathew said. “But if you come in curious about people, willing to do real research, and able to tell a story about why your solution matters to a specific human being in a specific context, you will surprise yourself with what’s possible in 48 hours.”