By Alice Chambers |
Agribusiness and food company Land O’Lakes has co-develop AI-powered tools with Microsoft including a digital assistant called ‘Oz’.
Oz is built on models within Azure AI Foundry and uses agricultural data from the Land O’Lakes Crop Protection guide to help farmers make informed decisions to optimise operations, maximise yield and mitigate risk. The assistant is designed to deliver fast, accurate, mobile-friendly responses to agricultural questions, and is currently in beta testing.
“In a world where farmers are inundated with data and emerging technologies, our partnership with Microsoft enables retail agronomists to efficiently access information and provide farm-specific solutions,” said Leah Anderson, president of WinField United and senior vice president of Land O’Lakes. “By equipping retail agronomists with this information, we are enabling decisions that support long-term success and increased confidence across the agricultural ecosystem.”
Land O’Lakes has migrated more than two thirds of its It environment to Microsoft Azure and deployed Microsoft Copilot licenses ahead of developing Oz. The organisation used Copilot Tuning to customise its enterprise copilot using its own agriculture-specific data to improve relevance and accuracy for its specific business needs.
“The agriculture industry continues to face unprecedented pressure – from rising costs to shrinking margins – and AI innovation plays an important role in addressing these challenges,” said Judson Althoff, CEO of Microsoft’s commercial business. “By combining Land O’Lakes’ century of expertise with Microsoft’s cloud and AI capabilities, we are delivering a copilot solution that empowers farmers with actionable insights that help control costs, boost crop yields and drive long-term success.”