F3 Innovate Celebrates TerraTech25 Success

By: Mandy Breuer, Director of Talent Programs at F3 Innovate

F3 Innovate (F3i) is proud to announce the success of its TerraTech25 program, which provided transformative experiences at the intersection of agriculture and technology for 20 talented undergraduate students, providing them hands-on opportunities with 12 industry partners across five counties. The program not only clarified career paths for these students and also fostered invaluable skills and industry connections. 

Sinehan Ezhilmuthu, Milano Technical Group intern from UC Merced, remarked, "Coming here really cleared those doubts…I…understand where ag tech is and where I can impact it." Christina Nguyen, Rainmaker.Earth intern from UC Merced, shared that the program "showed...even as an environmental engineer...you can go into this field and make an impact in this industry that needs more technological advancements." Morelia Vierya Santana, Fresno State TerraTech25 intern, noted that through the program they discovered  “as an ag business major…I realized that creative storytelling is an actual path I can go into when it comes to the agriculture industry." 

TerraTech25 bridged academia and industry, with placements that were interdisciplinary in nature and attracted applicants from 41 college programs, underscoring the value of interdisciplinary collaboration. UC Merced’s Jasmine Camacho, a Valley Eco intern, noted the importance of “cross sectional collaboration, whether that’s between farmers and ecologists, researchers and like a bigger community…to create and mold a more sustainable future…Conversations are necessary, and it's been very cool to see how those conversations are had and how they're informed and how they're molded to create... actual solutions.”

"By hiring interns,” Umida AG host, Joseph Gallegos, stated, “...we’re able to show new minds some innovations that we’ve already developed... and let them run with it.” Drawing on the impact interns can make, Sunburst Ag Research & Innovation Center CEO, Srini Krishnamoorthy, stated, "they come out with some fresh ideas...get excited and then inspired to bring new ideas." Similarly, UC Cooperative Extension Mariposa Regenerative Agriculture program host, Sara Rosenberg, emphasized the importance of giving young people that "direct experience to work alongside farmers…that's going to really help to bridge that gap that we have in our culture right now."

As F3i moves toward recruitment for TerraTech26, the key to long-term success is a sustained effort. With the majority of hosts reporting that they would recommend their summer F3i TerraTech25 intern for future employment opportunities and reporting that the program met organizational needs, F3i is certain that 2026 will be another success. Applications for the upcoming TerraTech26 cohort for interested undergraduate students in the region are now open.

In addition to the long-term TerraTech26 programming, F3i is further engaging college and university students with its Data Challenge: Predicting Frost Risk in the Central Valley. In this program, students will get the opportunity to train machine learning models on real Central Valley weather data to predict frost conditions 6, 12, and 24 hours in advance. Participants in this challenge will be at the forefront of agriculture and have opportunities to present to leaders within the sector. F3i seeks to continue investing in the region and building the intellectual infrastructure of tomorrow by giving students the ability to innovate and make real change today.

Learn more about F3 Innovate at f3i.org or reach out to talent@f3innovate.org for more information about F3i's talent programs.