Microsoft and India team up for farming initiatives
Microsoft and India are teaming up yet again, this time for the farmers.
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What you need to know
Much likeSouth Australia, India is keen on harnessing Microsoft’s technological expertise for its goals and initiatives. Though India and Microsoft haveteamed up in the past, this time the focus is specific to farmers.
As reported byBloomberg, the Indian government has enlisted Microsoft, Amazon, and Cisco to help ensure that India’s farmers have the technological tools needed to optimize their work and ensure that crop yields are as high as possible.
Many hurdles stand in the way of Microsoft spreading its tech throughout Indian farming communities, including a lack of infrastructure for said technology to run on, as well as farmers' concerns over privacy and how all this data harvesting will affect them and their crop harvesting.
Operations are already underway, though. Microsoft has picked 100 villages to receive AI and machine learning tools in what’s being framed as a one-year pilot program. Amazon has also begun its farmer assistance efforts via a mobile app and cloud services.
The idea is that with all the data being accumulated, the government will have an easier time figuring out which regions need help and in what capacity.
This isn’t Microsoft’s first go-round with high-tech food assistance. Not long ago, the company announced an extension and expansion of itspartnership with Mars, wherein it’s utilizing the power of Azure to help spread the equally potent power of Twix chocolates.
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Robert Carnevale is the News Editor for Windows Central. He’s a big fan of Kinect (it lives on in his heart), Sonic the Hedgehog, and the legendary intersection of those two titans, Sonic Free Riders. He is the author ofCold War 2395. Have a useful tip? Send it to robert.carnevale@futurenet.com.
