Land O’Lakes Inc. and Microsoft have announced a multiyear strategic alliance, building on five years of successful collaboration to drive agricultural innovation. This partnership aims to co-develop AI-powered tools, including a digital assistant named “Oz,” designed to support farmers in optimizing operations, maximizing yields, and mitigating risks.
Oz, built on models within Azure AI Foundry and utilizing Land O’Lakes’ extensive agricultural data, is designed to provide farmers with data-driven recommendations. This tool is expected to help farmers navigate the challenges of rising production costs, falling crop prices, and declining farmable land, all of which are squeezing margins across operations of all sizes. By leveraging AI, the alliance seeks to enhance efficiency and resiliency in agriculture, safeguarding the future of the industry.
Teddy Bekele, SVP and Chief Technology Officer at Land O’Lakes, emphasized the significance of this partnership, stating, “Land O’Lakes has supported American agriculture for more than 100 years, and the AI-powered technologies we’re building with Microsoft will be key to the next 100.” He highlighted the goal of delivering data-driven recommendations that lead to the best outcomes for farmers, ensuring a stable food supply.
Judson Althoff, CEO of Microsoft’s commercial business, echoed this sentiment, noting that AI innovation is crucial in addressing the unprecedented pressures facing the agriculture industry. By combining Land O’Lakes’ expertise with Microsoft’s cloud and AI capabilities, the alliance aims to empower farmers with actionable insights that control costs, boost crop yields, and drive long-term success.
Oz is designed to deliver critical crop information instantly, leveraging the Land O’Lakes Crop Protection guide, an 800-page agronomic resource built on 20 years of data and millions of data points. This custom copilot provides fast, accurate, mobile-friendly responses to agricultural questions, helping retail agronomists find the best solutions to farm-specific challenges throughout the growing season. Currently in beta testing, Oz is set to expand access to retail agronomists in the coming year.
Leah Anderson, President of WinField United and SVP at Land O’Lakes, Inc., highlighted the importance of this partnership in enabling retail agronomists to efficiently access information and provide farm-specific solutions. By equipping agronomists with this data, the alliance aims to support long-term success and increased confidence across the agricultural ecosystem.
As part of its collaboration with Microsoft, Land O’Lakes has undergone a significant digital transformation. The company has migrated more than two-thirds of its IT environment to Microsoft Azure and piloted Microsoft Copilot licenses, achieving widespread adoption and high user engagement. Land O’Lakes also used Copilot Tuning to customize its enterprise Copilot using agriculture-specific data, improving relevance and accuracy for its business needs.
This digital transformation has enabled Land O’Lakes to bring cutting-edge, real-time data to farmers through various projects. These include a Digital Ag Platform that empowers farmers with innovative practices to improve soil quality and function, and a Digital Dairy solution that captures data about dairy production, even in areas with limited internet access. This solution uses Microsoft AI to predict and track consumer demand, optimizing the dairy supply chain.
Oz represents just the beginning of the renewed partnership, with plans to continue creating AI-powered offerings for the agriculture industry. This alliance underscores the potential of AI to revolutionize agriculture, providing farmers with the tools they need to thrive in an increasingly challenging environment.