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In this episode, join host Kim Olson and guests Teddy Bekele, chief technology officer for Land O’Lakes, Inc. as well as Ranveer Chandra, Microsoft's chief scientist for Azure Global. It’s a robust conversation on the current and future technologies in agriculture, how farmers stand to benefit -- and where each company is using its expertise to create greater opportunity and connections.


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Think about a steel plow and pitchfork. At one point, that was cutting-edge technology. You know how far we've come in agriculture? Technological advancements make many farmers some of the most technologically savvy people on the planet.
But in many ways there's still work to be done. To be the cooperative of the future we're building partnerships to get farmers connected to tech that boosts profitability. Not to mention help consumers gain a more intimate understanding of where their food comes from.
It's why Land O’Lakes, Inc. and Microsoft are teaming up.
Initially, the companies will focus on developing a connected ag tech platform -- built on Microsoft Azure -- that will bring together Land O’Lakes’ portfolio of innovative 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 potentially lowering the farm's carbon footprint.
Our partnership does not end there. For farmers and their families to use these tools, they need to be connected. Together we are working to advocate for and expand rural broadband capabilities. To read more about how our partnership with Microsoft aims to benefit rural America, check out this link for the full press release.