For 18-year-old Shivansh Sarin, agricultural residue was never just waste. Growing up in Amritsar, surrounded by farming communities, he saw a problem that has become a familiar part of India’s environmental conversation: farmers burning crop residue because it is the quickest and most affordable way to clear their fields.

The consequences, he realised, go far beyond the fields.

“Crop-residue burning contributes to air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, while repeated burning can also affect soil quality. Yet for farmers with limited affordable alternatives, simply burning the residue remains the most practical option”, said Shivansh.

Instead of accepting that as the status quo, Shivansh decided to explore whether the same agricultural waste could be turned into something valuable.

His school-level prototype, which is now ready, demonstrated the generation of electricity from agricultural residue using thermoelectric generators. He now wants to take the concept much further through AgriVolt Carbon Al, his idea among the Top 40 candidates of Samsung’s flagship CSR programme Samsung Solve for Tomorrow.

The proposed solution combines sensors and Artificial Intelligence, including Reinforcement Learning, to optimise the processing of agricultural residue. The aim is to maximise the recovery of electricity and biochar, while also exploring the production of carbon-rich materials that could eventually have applications such as activated carbon or carbon black.

At its heart, Shivansh’s idea is about changing the equation around agricultural waste: from something farmers need to get rid of into a resource that can potentially generate energy and create economic value.

A problem he saw beyond the headlines

The idea began with something Shivansh was seeing repeatedly in the news.

“Every year we see air pollution. News channels show how agricultural waste burning is contributing to it. But it is not just one place — it is a common problem across the country,” he said.

His research took him beyond headlines and into villages around Amritsar. He met village heads and spoke to communities to understand whether a solution such as his could work on the ground.

The response gave him confidence that the problem was worth pursuing.

Farmers, he says, were receptive to the idea of a young person from their own state working on a problem that directly affects their communities.

For Shivansh, those conversations also changed the nature of the project. It was no longer simply a science experiment built in school. It became an attempt to understand how technology could be designed around a real-world need.

Turning a school experiment into a larger ambition

The next challenge is scale.

Shivansh envisions AgriVolt Carbon Al as a system that can use real-time sensor data and AI-based optimisation to make the processing of agricultural residue more efficient. The larger goal is to create a circular approach in which crop waste can generate useful outputs rather than being treated as something with no value.

Electricity could provide one benefit. Biochar and other carbon-rich materials could provide another, with potential applications in future carbon-based products.

For Shivansh, the environmental case and the economic case are closely connected.

“If farmers are burning agricultural waste, they are also affecting the fertility of their soil. I want my idea to help with both — the environment and the farmers,” he says.

That ambition reflects a broader shift among young innovators: looking beyond technology for technology’s sake and using skills in AI, electronics and engineering to tackle problems that affect communities around them.

Shivansh’s journey began with a school prototype. His larger ambition is to develop it into something that could offer farmers an affordable alternative to burning agricultural residue — while converting a persistent environmental problem into a potential source of energy and value.

For a teenager from a city surrounded by farms, it is also a reminder that innovation does not always begin in a large technology company.

Sometimes, it begins by looking at a problem happening in your own backyard and asking a simple question: what if this could be done differently?

A few of the top 50 teams selected in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow education and innovation competition are out to change that perception with their ideas that look to help improve the lives of farmers. They want to make agriculture more sustainable and bring in a lot of tech into it.

Six of the top 50 shortlisted teams have suggested ways to solve the challenges related to agriculture.

These are youngsters are working on automation that can significantly help farmers increase yield, make the most of their resources and lessen the use of harmful chemicals.

Let’s look at three teams that are working on crop protection techniques for farmers.

Team Agriwheel

Durga, Dhanush and Lakshmi from Andhra Pradesh built want to help farmers with an automated irrigation system, a crop disease detection system as well as identifying the best crops to grow on their land.

Durga, Dhanush and Lakshmi from Andhra Pradesh

Most farmers in developing and under-developed nations still use conventional agricultural practices.

The trio spoke to over 100 farmers across India to understand their requirements and applied design thinking concepts to come up with a solution.

The proposed prototype strictly based on AI and the process of design thinking is already deployed in farming sites going through extensive testing phase. The model will be utilizing advanced machine learning concepts in disease prediction, crop recommendation techniques with focus on efficiency.

Voice based recommendations is also a unique feature in this model which helps farmers who are not familiar with smart devices.

Team Tech Phantoms

Shiva Kiran, Nithish Kumar and Vivekananda from Telangana are designing an automatic weed digger system that will enable farmers to reduce dependence on chemical weedicides. Use of robotic technology to identify and get rid of weeds from farmlands ultimately maximizes the production and add to their profits.

Shiva Kiran, Nithish Kumar and Vivekananda from Telangana

The teams is using their knowledge of hardware and programming to help farmers. As part of their idea for Solve for Tomorrow, they are creating a portable device which can be produced in many variants. Farmers will be provided training on how to use the device effectively and the team plans to provide one year of on-site services free.

Team Pack of Wolves

Malayaj, Diksha and Nyaasha from Odisha call themselves a pack of wolves. In their words, they hunt together and chill together.

Nyaasha, Malayaj, Diksha and from Odisha

The team wants to solve a very old problem that farmers have been facing – loss of crop because of birds, reptiles and other animals. These rodents damage at least 20-30% of food grains and horticultural crops, affecting farmer economically.

Their idea is inspired by the traditional Scare Crow. They are designing a scarecrow that uses sound frequencies to deter animals, birds and insects from infesting crops.

Here’s everything you need to know about Solve for Tomorrow’s innovation themes –

Education: Enabling education for a sustainable tomorrow remains pivotal to India’s economic growth. With Samsung India, the pillar represents a window of opportunity for participants to contribute to self-reliance and support a better livelihood for thousands of people across the country. By 2030, India aims to eliminate gender disparity, upskill the number of youth and adults, and ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development.

Environment: Climate change is disrupting national economies with massive carbon footprint and ever-rising temperatures posing a serious concern. Under its Solve for Tomorrow program, Samsung India aims to empower participants to combat the disproportionate impacts of this global phenomenon. The pillar seeks to strengthen adaptive capacity to climate-related calamities and find solutions to save our planet for future generations.

Healthcare: Poor health is a major contributor to mental illness and deprivation amongst individuals. With Solve for Tomorrow program, advents including the eradication of diseases, addressing new challenges like COVID-19, global access to medicine and vaccines, and current and new health emergencies, are some of the key areas that need innovation.

Agriculture: India’s key livelihood agriculture, shares a major chunk of the overall GDP. The sector, however, is still dawned with challenges like deteriorating natural resources and climate change. With this program, the prospect to overcome hurdles extends to thinking wisely about enhanced hybrid varieties and implementing improved management practices, which conserve soil and water resources apart from other solutions.