Land O’Lakes and Microsoft Partner to Accelerate AI Innovation in Agriculture

Land O’Lakes Inc. and Microsoft have announced a multiyear strategic alliance, marking a new chapter in their shared commitment to agricultural innovation. Building on five years of successful collaboration, the alliance will focus on co-developing AI-powered tools including a digital assistant called “Oz.” This assistant is built on models within Azure AI Foundry and uses Land O’Lakes agricultural data to help farmers make informed decisions that aim to optimize operations, maximize yield potentials and mitigate risk.

U.S. farms are vital to the nation’s food supply but rising production costs, falling crop prices, and declining farmable land are squeezing margins across operations of all sizes. Technologies that improve efficiency and resiliency can help farmers manage costs and stabilize their operations, safeguarding the future of agriculture.

“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,” said Teddy Bekele, SVP and Chief Technology Officer, Land O’Lakes. “The goal of our alliance is to deliver data-driven recommendations and solutions that lead to the best outcomes for farmers, who keep food on all of our tables.”

“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.”

Oz: Delivering critical crop information instantly

Land O’Lakes is owned by highly knowledgeable agricultural retailers who act as trusted advisors to farmers throughout the growing season. Historically, these retailers leveraged the Land O’Lakes Crop Protection guide, an 800-page agronomic resource built on 20 years of data and millions of data points, to make personalized product recommendations that address unique farm-level challenges.

Microsoft and Land O’Lakes used this data to develop a custom copilot called “Oz” that delivers fast, accurate, mobile-friendly responses to agricultural questions that are top of mind for farmers and specific to their unique needs.

By streamlining access to this information, Oz helps retail agronomists find the best solution to challenges throughout the growing season, enabling farmers to control production cost and optimize yield potential. The assistant is currently in beta testing with plans to expand access to retail agronomists in the coming year.

“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, WinField United and SVP, Land O’Lakes, Inc. “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’ digital transformation

As part of its collaboration with Microsoft, Land O’Lakes has undergone a significant digital transformation to better empower the agriculture industry with key technology innovations. 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 its own agriculture-specific data to improve relevance and accuracy for its specific business needs.

This AI transformation has enabled Land O’Lakes to bring cutting-edge, real-time data to the farmers they serve, including through projects such as:

• A Digital Ag Platform that empowers farmers with innovative practices to improve the quality and function of their farms’ soils.
• A Digital Dairy solution that captures data about dairy production, including areas with limited internet access, to help dairy farmers track and increase production. The solution also uses Microsoft AI to predict and track consumer demand to optimize the dairy supply chain.

Oz is just the first solution from the renewed partnership, with plans to continue creating AI-powered offerings for the agriculture industry.