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National & World Ag News Headlines
Land O'Lakes and Microsoft Pioneering Ag, Rural Innovations
USAgNet - 08/12/2020

Land O'Lakes Inc. and Microsoft Corp. announced a multiyear strategic alliance to pioneer new innovations in agriculture and enhance the supply chain, expand sustainability practices for farmers and the food system, and close the rural broadband gap. As one of the nation's largest farmer-owned cooperatives with 150 million acres of productive cropland in its network, Land O'Lakes is deeply connected to rural America and has a unique understanding of farmers' needs and the communities where they and their families live and work. Combined with Microsoft's trusted cloud technologies and AI capabilities, the companies will deliver solutions that help farmers' profit potential and adoption of sustainable agricultural practices.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. farms contribute more than $130 billion to the economy, emphasizing the critical role farmers play in our nation's food supply. Yet the industry faces challenges that threaten its viability, including climate change, trade issues and an evolving workforce. With the emergence of COVID-19, the industry is increasingly facing production and supply-chain issues, and many farmers are facing new economic challenges for their family-owned businesses.

Cow in a field"Land O'Lakes is one of the most important food suppliers in the U.S., and our nation's farmers and consumers rely on its ability to rapidly adapt to changing market forces through innovation," said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft. "Through our partnership, we will apply the power of Azure and its AI capabilities to help Land O'Lakes solve some of the most pressing challenges facing the industry and bridge the divide between rural and urban communities."

"As America's farmers continue to deliver the world's safest, most affordable food supply, they face an increasing number of obstacles that are beyond their control. The data-based, precision agriculture tools that we are building with Microsoft will provide the edge they need, but unreliable or nonexistent high-speed internet in rural areas keeps these tools out of reach for many. Through this alliance, we will work to address this need and help farmers remain profitable and sustainable," said Beth Ford, president and CEO of Land O'Lakes, Inc.

Initially, the companies will focus on developing a connected AgTech platform, built on Microsoft Azure, that will bring together Land O'Lakes' portfolio of innovative AgTech tools, such as WinField United's R7 Suite, Data Silo and Truterra Insights Engine under one unified architecture. By standardizing on Azure and harnessing the power of Azure FarmBeats, Land O'Lakes will be able to derive insights that enable intelligent agriculture solutions for farmers to be more productive with their time and resources. This includes early mitigation of plant stress to guide precisely where and when farmers should take action on their field for ideal growth conditions, maximization of yield potential by planting the right seed varieties and nutrients, optimizing fertilizer investments, and ensuring accurate output ratio to meet demand properly, all while lowering the farm carbon footprint.

Built on top of the AgTech platform, the companies will collaborate to advance an aggregator of data with Data Silo, as well as leverage Microsoft Azure and its AI capabilities and insights from WinField United Answer Plot test fields, to support more predictable decisions for placement of crop inputs such as seeds and treatments, with the goal of increasing return on investment with the entire acre.

The companies will create a Digital Dairy solution, harnessing the power of edge computing to capture data from farms with poor internet coverage, and the power of AI to provide data-driven insights for dairy producers. This initiative will bring together multiple data streams -- including weather, feed management and animal health -- from sensors and third-party applications to help dairy producers improve profit potential, adopt conservation practices and reduce waste by feeding livestock only what they need and ensuring milk supply doesn't go bad in the supply chain. Through the Digital Dairy solution, the companies will enable Traceability throughout the Land O'Lakes supply chain, providing transparency to milk, butter and cheese, ensuring consumer confidence that foods are of the highest quality and sustainably sourced. At a time when the dairy industry is stressed with changing customer demand and supply-chain disruptions, these digital tools will help producers improve efficiencies and profit potential, while helping to ensure food gets to the people who need it most.


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