Announcing Microsoft Azure Data Manager for Agriculture: Accelerating innovation across the agriculture value chain | Azure Blog and Updates

The agriculture industry is at a turning level. Whereas meals could appear plentiful in lots of international areas, the variety of individuals going hungry has continued to extend during the last 9 years. To feed rising populations sustainably and effectively, the best way we produce meals should change. From the soil—the place enhancements to farming practices may also help mitigate local weather change to the shelf—the place prospects search for merchandise with minimal carbon footprint—the agriculture and meals worth chain is primed for innovation.

That is why we’re thrilled to announce that Microsoft Azure Information Supervisor for Agriculture is now obtainable in preview. At Microsoft, we’ve lengthy acknowledged that scaling innovation throughout the industry begins with knowledge. What started with Mission FarmBeats, an formidable initiative to gather and rework agricultural knowledge, has now developed right into a well timed industrial answer.

Azure Information Supervisor for Agriculture extends the Microsoft Clever Information Platform with industry-specific knowledge connectors and capabilities to attach farm knowledge from disparate sources, enabling organizations to leverage high-quality datasets and speed up the event of digital agriculture options. As a substitute of devoting sources to managing unstructured knowledge, prospects and companions can give attention to product innovation with the flexibility to purpose over available and ample knowledge. Moreover, organizations can use in-house, third-party, or Clever Information Platform providers to hurry the trail to analytics and enterprise intelligence options. With a related ecosystem of companions constructing options on high of Azure Information Supervisor for Agriculture, that is one other step in direction of a related and collaborative agriculture industry.

Speed up innovation by means of knowledge

With a lot agriculture-relevant knowledge generated throughout the farm—from sensors within the soil to satellites orbiting the earth—many organizations don’t have the sources to harness it successfully. Azure Information Supervisor for Agriculture helps break down knowledge silos, permitting organizations to construct options that present predictive and prescriptive insights on soil well being, altering climate patterns, waste monitoring, carbon sequestration, and extra.

For instance, Bayer used Azure Information Supervisor for Agriculture to shift from a self-managed knowledge property to a managed mannequin with Microsoft. Bayer’s FieldView platform harnesses knowledge from Azure Information Supervisor for Agriculture’s satellite tv for pc and climate pipelines to allow insights on potential yield-limiting components in growers’ fields. As well as, Bayer is making their industry-leading experience obtainable to enterprise prospects within the type of AgPowered Providers—a set of options that ingest knowledge from Azure Information Supervisor for Agriculture to offer well timed insights on crop well being, climate forecast, crop development monitoring, and extra.

Not solely is Bayer operating their options on Azure Information Supervisor for Agriculture, however they’re additionally bringing many years of agriculture experience to assist develop a sturdy Azure Information Supervisor. Because of our strategic partnership, we’re leveraging Bayer’s industry information—in addition to knowledge connectors, fashions, transformations, and workflows—to tell how we strengthen Azure Information Supervisor for Agriculture and empower organizations to handle the challenges in agriculture at the moment.

“Azure Information Supervisor for Agriculture is a vital step in direction of accelerating the affect of huge knowledge and agriculture. With high-quality knowledge fueling insights, we count on to see a price chain that’s extra predictable, extra clear, and importantly, the place the worth is shared all the best way again to producers.”—Jeremy Williams, Head of Local weather and Digital Farming, Bayer Crop Science.

Allow a extra sustainable future

Feeding a rising international inhabitants and constructing a more healthy world is simply potential if sustainability is practiced from farm to fork. With Azure Information Supervisor for Agriculture, agriculture enter suppliers can speed up options that empower farmers to undertake extra sustainable practices. For instance, Azure Information Supervisor for Agriculture is a foundational part for Land O’Lakes’ digital choices, together with the Truterra sustainability device. Truterra supplies perception into how completely different agricultural practices affect water, nitrogen, and carbon on a farm, and it allows farmers to trace their soil’s carbon sequestration and take part in carbon markets.

“Via our collaboration [with Microsoft], we’re enabling farmers with new providers to enhance their operations and to quantify knowledge for his or her prospects that tells a narrative of sustainability.”—Teddy Bekele, Chief Expertise Officer, Land O’Lakes, Inc.

Domesticate belief rooted in transparency

Customers and traders alike are placing stress on firms to be clear about their agricultural and sustainability practices. With a clearer view into farm operations, firms can take an vital step to determine belief with traders and prospects. Azure Information Supervisor for Agriculture allows organizations to switch self-reported knowledge with high-quality farm knowledge to offer extra correct info to stakeholders—serving to firms construct model belief by means of ethically and sustainably produced merchandise. And as safety and privateness considerations develop, organizations can relaxation assured realizing their knowledge is saved in essentially the most trusted cloud, constructed to fulfill stringent safety and compliance necessities.

The Microsoft dedication to sustainability

Azure Information Supervisor for Agriculture is just one a part of the Microsoft dedication to accelerating progress towards a extra sustainable planet. With their subsequent initiative, Mission FarmVibes, Microsoft Analysis is constructing toolkits and AI fashions which are obtainable in Microsoft Open Supply to advance agriculture innovation within the scientific neighborhood throughout academia and enterprise.

Microsoft has additionally launched Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability, which empowers organizations to speed up sustainability progress and enterprise development by bringing collectively a rising set of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) capabilities from Microsoft and our international ecosystem of companions. Collectively, we’re conserving sustainability on the core of our choices, and we search to empower organizations to undertake extra regenerative and sustainable farming practices.

Be taught extra and rework your operations at the moment

Should you’re fascinated with utilizing Azure Information Supervisor for Agriculture for your enterprise, you’ll be able to enroll right here. Azure Information Supervisor for Agriculture requires registration and is at the moment solely obtainable to accredited prospects and companions throughout the preview interval.