Land O’Lakes Inc. and Microsoft have introduced a multiyear strategic alliance, marking a brand new chapter of their shared dedication to agricultural innovation. Constructing on 5 years of profitable collaboration, the alliance will concentrate on co-developing AI-powered instruments together with a digital assistant referred to as “Oz.” This assistant is constructed on fashions inside Azure AI Foundry and makes use of Land O’Lakes agricultural information to assist farmers make knowledgeable selections that intention to optimize operations, maximize yield potentials and mitigate threat.
U.S. farms are important to the nation’s meals provide however rising manufacturing prices, falling crop costs, and declining farmable land are squeezing margins throughout operations of all sizes. Applied sciences that enhance effectivity and resiliency may also help farmers handle prices and stabilize their operations, safeguarding the way forward for agriculture.
“Land O’Lakes has supported American agriculture for greater than 100 years, and the AI-powered applied sciences we’re constructing with Microsoft shall be key to the following 100,” stated Teddy Bekele, SVP and Chief Expertise Officer, Land O’Lakes. “The aim of our alliance is to ship data-driven suggestions and options that result in the most effective outcomes for farmers, who preserve meals on all of our tables.”
“The agriculture trade continues to face unprecedented stress—from rising prices to shrinking margins—and AI innovation performs an essential position in addressing these challenges,” stated Judson Althoff, CEO of Microsoft’s industrial enterprise. “By combining Land O’Lakes’ century of experience with Microsoft’s cloud and AI capabilities, we’re delivering a copilot resolution that empowers farmers with actionable insights that assist management prices, increase crop yields, and drive long-term success.”
Oz: Delivering important crop data immediately
Land O’Lakes is owned by extremely educated agricultural retailers who act as trusted advisors to farmers all through the rising season. Traditionally, these retailers leveraged the Land O’Lakes Crop Safety information, an 800-page agronomic useful resource constructed on 20 years of knowledge and tens of millions of knowledge factors, to make customized product suggestions that deal with distinctive farm-level challenges.
Microsoft and Land O’Lakes used this information to develop a customized copilot referred to as “Oz” that delivers quick, correct, mobile-friendly responses to agricultural questions which are prime of thoughts for farmers and particular to their distinctive wants.
By streamlining entry to this data, Ozhelps retail agronomists discover the most effective resolution to challenges all through the rising season, enabling farmers to regulate manufacturing value and optimize yield potential. The assistant is presently in beta testing with plans to develop entry to retail agronomists within the coming yr.
“In a world the place farmers are inundated with information and rising applied sciences, our partnership with Microsoft allows retail agronomists to effectively entry data and supply farm-specific options,” stated Leah Anderson, President, WinField United and SVP, Land O’Lakes, Inc. “By equipping retail agronomists with this data, we’re enabling selections that help long-term success and elevated confidence throughout the agricultural ecosystem.”
Land O’Lakes’ digital transformation
As a part of its collaboration with Microsoft, Land O’Lakes has undergone a major digital transformation to higher empower the agriculture trade with key know-how improvements. The corporate has migrated greater than two thirds of its IT surroundings to Microsoft Azure and piloted Microsoft Copilot licenses, reaching widespread adoption and excessive consumer engagement. Land O’Lakes additionally used Copilot Tuning to customise its enterprise Copilot utilizing its personal agriculture-specific information to enhance relevance and accuracy for its particular enterprise wants.
This AI transformation has enabled Land O’Lakes to deliver cutting-edge, real-time information to the farmers they serve, together with via tasks reminiscent of:
- A Digital Ag Platform that empowers farmers with modern practices to enhance the standard and performance of their farms’ soils.
- A Digital Dairy resolution that captures information about dairy manufacturing, together with areas with restricted web entry, to assist dairy farmers observe and enhance manufacturing. The answer additionally makes use of Microsoft AI to foretell and observe shopper demand to optimize the dairy provide chain.
Ozis simply the primary resolution from the renewed partnership, with plans to proceed creating AI-powered choices for the agriculture trade.
