USDA enables data-driven sustainable farming across the US
The U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), in partnership with Microsoft, piloted Azure FarmBeats technology at its Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Maryland. The FarmBeats project leverages IoT sensors, drones, satellites, and edge computing to collect and consolidate farm data. This collaborative pilot enables farmers to see crop and soil data in real time, improving resource allocation and climate resilience. FarmBeats uses TV white spaces to transmit data from remote fields to the cloud, bypassing limited rural internet access. Data from the pilot is expanding to over 200 farms, merging fragmented sources into a single, cloud-based platform on Azure. Farmers and researchers now gain actionable insights, improving monitoring of soil moisture, temperature, humidity, and crop health. Advanced analytics support better water and fertilizer management, with daily satellite images and historical data accessible to researchers and growers. The platform also helps the USDA break down internal data silos, enabling more efficient research nationwide and supporting continuous climate monitoring operations. With greater visibility, the USDA can optimize resource use, speed scientific analysis, and support climate-resilient growth strategies. The partnership also employs GIS mapping by Esri, delivering geographically precise recommendations to farmers across highly variable environments.
- Organization
- U.S. Department of Agriculture
- Industry
- Agriculture
- Location
- United States
- Published
- October 2019
Reported outcomes
Strategic outcomes
Primary read
Use case focus
Showing 3 of 5
- 1Precision Agriculture with IoT and AI
- 2Real-time Crop and Soil Monitoring
- 3Cloud-based Data Management for Farms
- Global food demand is rising rapidly, requiring increased, sustainable crop yields.
- Farmers confront limited internet access, complicating modern data collection and use.
- Fragmented farm and research data impede timely, actionable insights.
- Water and fertilizer management are difficult to optimize across large, variable acreage.
- Extreme weather increases the need for resilience in agricultural practices.
- Deployed Azure FarmBeats leveraging IoT sensors, drones, and satellite imagery to gather data.
- Transmitted data using TV white spaces for connectivity in rural/remote areas.
- Centralized data storage and analysis on Microsoft Azure, breaking down silos.
- Provided real-time dashboards, daily satellite feeds, and advanced analytics for both farmers and USDA researchers.
- Integrated Esri GIS mapping to deliver location-specific insights and recommendations for precision agriculture.
- Real-time monitoring of crops and soils over 7,000+ acres at pilot and more than 200+ farms in the network.
- Improved water and fertilizer efficiency and climate resilience in large-scale farming.
- Accelerated research through centralized, cloud-based data, reducing manual effort and lag.
- Enabled actionable, site-specific recommendations via advanced analytics and GIS.
- Supported the development and adoption of climate-aware farming practices across the U.S.
Architecture
IoT sensors, drones, and tractors transmit environmental and crop data to local edge devices via TV white spaces, which upload to Azure cloud using FarmBeats. Data is processed, analyzed, and visualized in real time for researchers and farmers. Integration with Esri GIS mapping provides location intelligence for agronomic recommendations; all data access and control flows through an Azure-backed platform.
Implementation partners1
Sources & evidence3
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