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<p>Few weeks ago, Bayer&nbsp;announced their strategic partnership&nbsp;with Microsoft to &ldquo;optimize and advance digital capabilities&rdquo; across food, feed, fuel, fiber value chains.</p><p>This partnership isn&rsquo;t the stuff of destined-to-happen romcom kinds we see in movies like Harry Met Sally. As I had poetically argued in greater depth earlier, drawing parallels of corporate partnerships with rom-com movies, you could say that this is indeed the case, if you are talking of&nbsp;Bayer&rsquo;s Partnership with Agrostar,&nbsp;which recently raised $70 Million.</p><p>In the case of Microsoft, we are talking of a partnership that is more of the well-established &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s see where this goes&rdquo; Brangelina kind. I mean,&nbsp;before&nbsp;they&nbsp;went on their own ways.</p><p>Although I am half-serious, I am not being flippant here to simply jazz up and add "colour&rdquo; (as one reader quipped in a long, heartwarming anonymous feedback) to mundane agritech partnership developments.</p><p>We are living in the era of&nbsp;Studio Agriculture&nbsp;where&nbsp;full stackers&nbsp;inside agriculture and outside agriculture (Hello&nbsp;Farmbeats!)&nbsp;are building digital infrastructure to mobilize large numbers of participants in agriculture value chains to change the prevailing dynamics and structures of the agricultural markets.</p><p>To use a boxing metaphor:&nbsp;Now&nbsp;is the perfect time for agritech players, big or small, to punch above their weight category.</p><p>When I look at the ascent of&nbsp;Pinduoduo&nbsp;in China, the audacious vision&nbsp;execution&nbsp;of IDEA ecosystem&nbsp;in India, and strategic partnerships like this, I am reminded of Hollywood in its golden age during the 1920s and 30s.</p><p>Bayer has realized over time that farmer-driven subscription models are not working well for them, and therefore, they have been focusing on three value streams:</p><ol><li>"Sell More of their Portfolio" through disintermediation and transparency in data through platforms like Climate Field View.</li><li>Catalyze New Business Models (Carbon Marketplaces, Sustainability) through Digital Ag Platforms.</li><li>Partnership Model</li></ol><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Article link: https://agribusinessmatters.substack.com/p/12-when-bayer-met-microsoft</p>