India - 12 Jun 2018: AgroStar, India’s foremost AgTech start-up, aims to transform the agri-business for farmers in rural India by using hyperlocal weather forecast data and insights from The Weather Company, an IBM Business, to help farmers make informed decisions for better crop output.

This collaboration will enable the two companies to provide critical insights on crop disease risks, and probability of occurrence of a particular pest or disease with high levels of accuracy in crops like cotton, potatoes, chili, etc. These insights delivered to the farmer through AgroStar’s voice and digital platform has the potential to increase crop yield and reduce the extent of crop damage.

AgroStar has acquired a large and accurate database of farmer profiles that comprise data points like crops sown, land size, land type, irrigation facilities, along with agronomic profiling of farms and the ability to determine crop life cycles. These inputs are combined with The Weather Company’s disease and pest forecast algorithms and datasets to equip farmers with the information they need for effective management at every stage of the crop. This will help farmers take proactive steps towards effective crop management versus addressing problems reactively post-occurrence. This pre-emptive and scientific method of pest and disease management will lead to the reduction of production costs and the growth of good quality crops.

"AgroStar is clearly establishing a complete market place for the Agrarian  economy to ensure that farmers have access to the right information at the right time to take the best interventions in order to improve outcomes. With hyperlocal weather insights from The Weather Company, farmers now know when precisely to schedule these interventions. We are excited to partner with AgroStar to address this market," says Himanshu Goyal, India Sales & Alliances Leader at The Weather Company.

AgroStar has been solving some of the biggest problems in Indian agriculture, among them accessibility to quality inputs and guidance of agronomy advisory for progressive farming. Combined with crop health insights from The Weather Company, accurate advisory services will be provided through the AgroStar platform that connects with more than 1 million farmers across the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Rajasthan. This collaboration will have a direct positive impact on input costs, crop yield, and farmers’ income, thereby making a significant contribution to Indian agriculture.

“We are very excited to deliver at scale, near precision agriculture practices to small and marginal farmers in the country by combining our agronomy expertise and on ground farmer data with The Weather Company’s hyper local weather capability and robust disease prediction algorithms” said Shardul Sheth, Co-founder of AgroStar.

About AgroStar:

AgroStar is India’s foremost AgTech start-up working on the mission of #HelpingFarmersWin by providing a complete range of agri solutions at the fingertips of farmers. AgroStar’s tech platform provides a combination of agronomy advice coupled with service and agri input products that enable farmers to significantly improve their productivity and income.

The company uses extensive amount of data, technology and agronomy knowledge to give the right solutions (products + advice) to Indian farmers. Over a million farmers have accessed the company’s platform through it’s call centers or the android app.

The company is well positioned to be a dominant player in the Agri space in India by having it’s impact across the value chain for the farmer starting from agri inputs, advisory, credit and output market linkages.

The Weather Company, an IBM Business

The Weather Company, an IBM Business, is the world's largest private weather enterprise, helping people make informed decisions –and take action –in the face of weather. The company offers the most accurate, personalized and actionable weather data and insights to millions of consumers and thousands of businesses via Weather’s API, its business solutions division, and its own digital products from The Weather Channel (weather.com) and Weather Underground (wunderground.com).

The Weather Company portfolio includes the fourth most-downloaded app and a top weather app on all major mobile platforms globally; the world’s largest network of personal weather stations; a top-20 U.S. website; the seventh most data-rich site in the world; one of the world’s largest IoT data platforms; and industry-leading business solutions.

Weather Means Business™. The world’s biggest brands in aviation, energy, insurance, media, and government rely on The Weather Company for data, technology platforms and services to help improve decision-making and respond to weather’s impact on business. For more, visit www.theweathercompany.com