OSLO, Norway and
ARMONK, N.Y., April. 26, 2019
/CNW/ -- Yara International (OSE: YAR), a global leader in crop
nutrition, and IBM (NYSE: IBM), today announced an agreement
to build the world's leading digital farming platform, providing
holistic digital services and instant agronomic advice.
Yara and IBM Services will jointly innovate and commercialize
digital agricultural solutions that will help increase global food
production by drawing on the two companies' complementary
capabilities: Yara's unrivalled agronomic knowledge, backed by more
than 800 agronomists and a century of experience, and IBM's digital
platforms, services and expertise in artificial intelligence (AI)
and data analytics.
"Our collaboration centers around a common goal to make a real
difference in agriculture. To be able to responsibly feed a growing
population, it is critical that farmers increase food production on
existing farmland to avoid deforestation. Yara and IBM will develop
digital solutions that empower professional and smallholder farmers
to optimize farming practices to increase yields, crop quality and
incomes in a sustainable way," said Terje
Knutsen, EVP Sales and Marketing in Yara.
The joint global digital farming platform will apply artificial
intelligence, machine learning and in-field data to unlock new
insights for farmers. The digital platform will have worldwide
coverage and aspires to reach 100 million hectares of farmland –
which is equivalent to twice the size of Spain or close to 7 percent of all arable land
worldwide* including millions of smallholder farms.
"As demand for food rises along with the world's population, the
digital farming platform will play a key role in increasing global
farming yields in a sustainable way. The collaboration is a perfect
symbiosis of IBM's capabilities in AI, big data management and
blockchain technology and Yara's agronomic knowledge,
farmer-centric digital innovation, and proven track record in
improving farming across the globe," said Luq Niazi, IBM Global Managing Director Consumer
Industries.
As a first step, Yara and IBM will establish joint innovation
teams, collaborating at digital hubs in Europe, Singapore, the US and Brazil. The teams will work closely with IBM
researchers to develop new capabilities, such as visual analytics
and machine learning techniques for crop insights. The first
services are planned for end 2019.
Advancing the digital frontier of farming
The Yara/IBM partnership will focus on all aspects of farm
optimization. One specific area of collaboration will be weather
data. The ability to respond optimally to weather conditions is
critical for farming. By merging analytical insights from IBM's
Watson Studio, IBM PAIRS technology, The Weather Company and other
services, with Yara's unrivaled crop knowledge and modelling
capabilities, the joint platform will not only provide hyperlocal
weather forecasts but will in addition give real-time actionable
recommendations, tailored to the specific needs of individual
fields/crops.
As the joint digital farming platform expands, the teams will
explore innovative business solutions to integrate the joint
platform into the IBM Food Trust, IBM's blockchain-enabled network
of food chain players. This will allow for greater traceability and
supply chain efficiency as well as ways to tackle food fraud, food
waste and sustainability. It will firmly link the farm into the
full food chain, creating a holistic approach to food production
from farm to plate.
The contract was signed in April
2019.
*World Bank, FAO.
About Yara
Yara grows knowledge to responsibly
feed the world and protect the planet, to fulfill our vision of a
collaborative society, a world without hunger and a planet
respected. To meet these commitments, we have taken the lead in
developing digital farming tools for precision farming and work
closely with partners throughout the whole food value chain to
develop more climate-friendly crop nutrition solutions. In
addition, we are committed to working towards sustainable mineral
fertilizer production. We foster an open culture of diversity and
inclusion that promotes the safety and integrity of our employees,
contractors, business partners, and society at large. Founded in
1905 to solve the emerging famine in Europe, Yara has a worldwide presence with
about 17,000 employees and operations in over 60 countries. In
2018, Yara reported revenues of USD 12.9
billion.
www.yara.com
About IBM
For further information about IBM please
visit www.ibm.com/services
Contacts:
Yara:
Josiane Kremer
Head of External Communications (acting)
Mobile: +4748180451
Email: josiane.kremer@yara.com
IBM:
Jeannine Kilbride
IBM External Relations
Mobile: 860-997-6277 E-mail: jkilbri@us.ibm.com
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SOURCE IBM