Sonata Software announced its collaboration with Bayer. As part of the partnership, Sonata will allow Bayer to develop new AgPowered Services for Microsoft Azure Data Manager for Agriculture that enable retrieval and integration of in-field activity data by working with leading manufacturers of farm machinery. According to a recent announcement from Bayer, one of agriculture's biggest technology challenges is a lack of data interoperability.

Farmers have seen advancements in the ability to connect data between on-farm systems, but solutions allowing them to connect to services and opportunities beyond the farm have been largely unavailable. Companies and organizations supporting agriculture and related industries have also lacked the infrastructure and capabilities needed to best serve their customers. This initiative will enable Enterprise users of Microsoft Azure Data Manager for Agriculture to have an integrated, one-stop solution to connect key data sources for farm machinery data in the industry, thus bringing down the cost of technical investment that companies are facing today.

Furthermore, organizations can rely on the same system to connect to additional data sources, such as in-field sensors, weather and satellite imagery, and incorporate data-driven insights and recommendations from the suite of AgPowered Services into their customer-facing solutions. Azure Data Manager for Agriculture provides B2B customers a 'one stop shop' to connect to farm machinery data, weather, imagery, and insights from AgPowered Services.