Advances in machine learning, combined with new sources of agricultural data – from drones, low-cost sensors and satellites – are opening up new opportunities to increase crop yields, for small and large farms alike, explains Chandra, a senior director in the Microsoft Technology Centre in Singapore.
FarmBeats, which launched in 2019 after years in development, has been designed to make it easier and cheaper for farmers to gather useful data from a variety of sources, and then use this information to cut down on waste and increase productivity.
“In India for example, we helped improve the yield of the crop,” Chandra says. “Even if you have the same yield, imagine if you can cut the fertilizer use by 20%. These are things that you can’t measure, unless you have the data behind it.”
Watch the video for more on FarmBeats, and the farmer-friendly innovations that made it possible:
