National Cleantech Innovation Challenge – Free State (Regenerative Agriculture in Large-Scale Commercial Farming Challenge)

The National Cleantech Innovation Challenge (NCIC) Free State: Regenerative Agriculture in Large-Scale Commercial Farming Challenge is a strategic provincial initiative designed to accelerate the transition from conventional high-input agriculture to scalable, climate-resilient regenerative farming systems.

The Free State is South Africa’s agricultural backbone, playing a central role in maize, wheat, and livestock production. However, decades of monocropping, intensive tillage, and chemical dependency have degraded soil health, reduced biodiversity, and increased vulnerability to climate shocks. Declining rainfall, prolonged droughts, and rising temperatures have compounded these pressures threatening long-term productivity, water security, and farm profitability.

This challenge seeks to catalyse scalable clean technology solutions that enable regenerative transformation at commercial scale.

Why This Challenge Matters

The Free State’s agricultural future depends on:

• Restoring soil organic matter and carbon levels
• Enhancing water retention and drought resilience
• Reducing reliance on synthetic fertilisers and pesticides
• Improving biodiversity and ecosystem services
• Integrating renewable energy into farm operations
• Strengthening long-term commercial viability

The challenge prioritises innovations that do not merely reduce harm but actively restore ecological function while maintaining or improving productivity and profitability.

Strategic Objectives

This challenge aims to:

• Promote regenerative soil-building practices that enhance nutrient cycling and fertility
• Increase drought resilience through improved water infiltration and retention
• Scale biologically based alternatives to synthetic inputs
• Enable precision agriculture and AI-enabled monitoring at commercial scale
• Support technology transfer and demonstration pilots
• Strengthen enterprise-led regenerative business models
• Position the Free State as a national leader in climate-smart agriculture

Who Can Apply

Applications are invited from innovators, enterprises, and agricultural technology companies deploying or demonstrating proven regenerative clean technologies at scale.

Eligible Participants

1. Pilot-Ready Innovators (TRL 6 and above)

• Precision agriculture tools
• AI-enabled field monitoring systems
• Soil health diagnostics
• Robotics for commercial-scale operations

2. Established Agricultural Enterprises

• Renewable energy integration (grid-tied or hybrid systems)
• Commercial-scale irrigation optimisation
• Soil amendment production systems
• Climate-smart mechanisation
• Circular bioeconomy solutions

3. Growth-Stage Companies

• Agrivoltaics for commercial farms
• Cold-chain and storage technologies
• Waste-to-value systems
• Regenerative agro-processing innovations

Collaborative applications involving agribusinesses, commercial producers, research institutions, and industry associations are strongly encouraged.

International applicants may participate in partnership with locally registered entities, provided localisation, skills transfer, and job creation are central to the proposal.

What They Are Looking For

• Scalable regenerative solutions suitable for large commercial farming systems
• Technologies restoring soil health and enhancing carbon sequestration
• Biological or mechanical alternatives to synthetic fertilisers and pesticides
• Clean energy integration into agricultural operations
• Data-driven tools for monitoring soil, water, and ecosystem performance
• Enterprise-led business models demonstrating financial viability
• Collaborative projects driving systemic sector transformation

What Is Not Eligible

• Incremental improvements that sustain extractive farming models
• Capital-intensive solutions excluding SMEs
• Smallholder-only interventions without commercial scalability
• Solutions misaligned with Free State environmental conditions
• Advocacy-only initiatives without measurable implementation
• High-cost proprietary technologies lacking contextual adaptability

Click HERE to visit the official website