Scaling Sustainability Through Bayer & Microsoft Partnership

Satellites, field sensors, drones, field equipment, and soil sensors generate hundreds of variables and attributes, but until recently, it’s been difficult and expensive to turn that information into insights because these systems don’t talk to each other. 

Until now, data from all corners of agriculture — production patterns, weather data, insect and disease tracking — were walled off from each other due to a lack of digital infrastructure. Without a common data format across the industry, interoperability and sharing has been challenging and complex.

Bayer is proud to announce the evolution of its collaboration with Microsoft with the preview launch of the Microsoft Azure Data Manager for Agriculture platform and the release of Bayer AgPowered Services. Azure Data Manager for Agriculture extends the Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform with industry-specific capabilities to connect farm data from disparate sources, enabling organizations to leverage high-quality datasets and accelerate the development of digital agriculture solutions. AgPowered Services are a set of capabilities and tools built on top of the platform that turn data into timely insights on crop health, weather forecasts, crop growth tracking, and more. The two work interchangeably to enable agri-food value chain companies to accelerate digital innovation and build new business value.

For preview, Bayer is offering an initial set of AgPowered Services for the Microsoft Azure Data Manager for Agriculture. These services will give platform customers insight into crop health, weather forecasts, crop growth tracking, and more. AgPowered Services were developed based on Bayer’s deep agronomic expertise, and for the first time, Bayer is making our industry-leading intellectual property available for commercial organizations to license.
 
Farmers will benefit from the increased analytical capabilities of AgPowered Services as they are rolled out through the Climate FieldView application.

Some of the insights available include: 

• Tracking disease, insects and weed pressure 
• Estimating heat stress impact 
• Applying precision inputs 
• Identifying crop growth and production patterns 
• Measuring potential yield 
• Using crop water usage maps 
• Analysis of rainfall and weather data

Bringing this disparate information together will allow farmers to adopt more sustainable practices reducing the impact on the climate. Doing so would also move toward satisfying consumer demand for healthier, high-quality food reducing waste and risk while increasing productivity.  

We provide access to a community of qualified 3rd party technical resources to help customers meet their objectives. Our System Integrators have deep experience with our platforms and can bring their skill sets to projects to help bridge resource gaps. They’re crucial in helping customers scope, define and build tailored solutions unique to their business.

At this time, Microsoft Azure Data Manager for Agriculture and Bayer AgPowered Services are under limited trial availability for customers and partners. Interested companies will need to request approval to access Microsoft Data Manager for Agriculture during the preview period. Visit the link below to learn more.