Tech giant Microsoft recently launched Microsoft for Agritech Startups programme for Indian agritech startups and is all set to provide them latest technology resources. Startups can now access Azure FarmBeats, a cloud platform built on top of Azure, Microsoft’s popular cloud computing service. Azure FarmBeats allows aggregation of agricultural data from different resources and fusion of different agricultural datasets from sensors, drones and satellites. The fused datasets are used to build machine learning models to build customized digital agriculture solutions.
Creation of farms with a map, tracking of farm condition by visualization of ground data, assessment of farm health using vegetation and water index, getting soil moisture map based on data – are some of the most prominent features being offered. Machine learning models thus created are capable of recommending optimum number of sensors required in the farm and also provide locations where their placement would be optimum.
Leveraging data collected from the sensors and satellite images helps build AI models which provide valuable data driven insights in agriculture. Azure FarmBeats helps agritech startups scale fast and focus on innovation, rather than worrying too much about data engineering resources. FarmBeats aims at providing customized solutions, key for all agritech startups.