AgriSolar — a portable and scalable solar-powered irrigation system designed to be accessible and affordable for smallholder farmers— took home top honors and the first-ever “Biggie” trophy in the 12th annual Big Ideas Grand Prize Pitch Day on May 7.
Big Ideas is a year-long academic program that provides training, networks, recognition, and funding to interdisciplinary teams of UC Berkeley students who have creative solutions to pressing social challenges and real-world problems.
The team of Berkeley graduate students behind Agrisolor includes recent School of Information graduate Ayushi Raj Bhatt (MIMS ’25), and students from the Haas School of Business and Goldman School of Public Policy. They have already deployed their portable system in Nigeria.
With 95 percent of Nigerian farmers relying on rain to irrigate crops, the dry season is hard on farmers. AgriSolar is a lightweight pump that makes year-round cultivation accessible. It’s based on a revenue-sharing model without upfront costs, allowing farmers to pay AgriSolar back over time with a share of their harvest income.
“A lot of AgTech skips over the people who need it most. We believe sustainable farming should be within reach for every farmer, not just those who can afford it,” said Bhatt.
“AgriSolar started with taking one class at Berkeley, and now it’s turning into something much bigger. We’ve seen the impact it can have on people’s lives, and we’re so grateful for the community that’s rallied around us. With their support, we’re ready to grow and scale this into something that reaches far beyond where we started.”
AgriSolar partnered with local agricultural cooperatives and associations to build trust and ensure their innovation addressed the problem in a useful way. The team is preparing to develop more units of their system to provide to another round of farmers before the next dry season sets in — a task that will be easier after winning Big Ideas.
This year’s Big Ideas Contest received 150 pre-proposal applications from some 500 students representing over 80 departments and majors across UC Berkeley. More than six in 10 submissions were led by undergraduates and 55 percent by women.
After a rigorous review process, 15 standout teams spanning 30 academic disciplines were selected for the second round. Their innovations addressing urgent global and local challenges — from climate change and gender-based violence to health disparities and access to education — are being piloted across the U.S., India, Australia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, and Zambia.
“Big Ideas has hundreds of success stories, but it’s really the Berkeley community, our robust network of mentors and our tried-and-true workshops and advising that help these students grow and thrive, whether it’s with this idea or their next,” said Brittney Byrd, Big Ideas’ outreach manager.
An ever-growing number of Big Ideas teams have been harnessing the power of emerging technologies — including AI, computer vision, and machine learning — to drive positive social change. This year, more than half of the applications incorporated at least one of these technologies, signaling a big shift in how student innovators are approaching complex global challenges.
“I’ve been running Big Ideas now for 18 years, and this is the most engaged cohort of students that I’ve worked with,” said Phillip Denny, the contest’s director.
“Winning Big Ideas meant a lot to me because it gave us the momentum to keep pushing toward the vision we believe in,” Bhatt said. “AgriSolar started with taking one class at Berkeley, and now it’s turning into something much bigger. We’ve seen the impact it can have on people’s lives, and we’re so grateful for the community that’s rallied around us. With their support, we’re ready to grow and scale this into something that reaches far beyond where we started.”
