LOS ANGELES, Aug. 21, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AgTech Breakthrough, a leading market intelligence organization that recognizes the top companies, technologies and products in the global agricultural and food technology markets, today announced that Bayer has been selected as the recipient of “AI-based AgTech Solution of the Year” for E.L.Y. in the 5th annual AgTech Breakthrough Awards program.
Bayer’s E.L.Y. system harnesses generative AI to equip sales teams, agronomists and other frontline employees in the U.S. with timely tailored insights to respond quickly and accurately to farmers’ agronomic and product-related questions. Backed by Bayer’s industry-leading agronomic data and based on internal benchmarks, E.L.Y. is improving response times to customer questions by 60 percent while Bayer employees have reported time savings of up to four hours a week.
Bayer employees access the cloud-based tool through a digital interface available in both mobile and web versions that responds to natural-language queries, while farmers benefit from improved outcomes in the field through more timely answers to their questions. By sharing the workload with an AI teammate, Bayer’s frontline employees can reinvest thousands of hours every week into higher impact customer service and activities.
Built on agentic generative AI architecture, E.L.Y. uses a frontier large language model (LLM) that combines Bayer’s agronomic data, field trial results and product label guidance to deliver precise, context-aware responses. The system also uses the Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) technique, enabling customization by geography, crop, or compliance needs. Its modular design supports adaptive user experiences, and the model’s small architecture makes it ideal for deployment on edge devices, allowing for use in resource-constrained environments.
“E.L.Y. exemplifies Bayer’s commitment to harnessing innovative technologies that support our farmers, partners, and frontline teams,” said Amanda McClerren, CIO and Head of Digital Transformation and IT for the Crop Science division of Bayer. “E.L.Y. can transform complex agronomic data into actionable insights that make a real impact on farm, and it serves as the first in a series of AI agents that will help Bayer to deliver the digitally enabled future of farming by transforming Bayer’s world-class agricultural data set into customer experiences that set us apart.”
Creating applications of artificial intelligence that provide real value to Bayer’s customers is a cornerstone of the Bayer approach to digital agriculture.
“By combining deep agricultural experience with cutting-edge digital innovation, and empowering agile squads to solve problems in new ways, we unlock new possibilities for our customers. Congrats to the E.L.Y. team for proving what’s possible when we work together with speed, focus and a farmer-first mindset,” said Jeremy Williams, Head of Climate LLC, Digital Farming and Commercial Ecosystems at Bayer.
The AgTech sector is rapidly redefining how food is produced, managed and distributed – transforming one of the world’s most essential industries. From AI-driven crop analytics and precision farming platforms to sustainable agriculture solutions and autonomous equipment, AgTech is delivering greater efficiency, transparency and environmental responsibility.
The mission of the annual AgTech Breakthrough Awards program is to shine a spotlight on the breakthrough innovators who are not only keeping pace with this dynamic industry but actively driving it forward. By conducting one of the AgTech industry’s most rigorous evaluations of technology companies, reviewing thousands of award nominations each year, AgTech Breakthrough aims to inspire continued innovation and help propel the global agriculture sector into a smarter, more sustainable future.
“Rather than functioning as a data retrieval engine, E.L.Y. translates complex knowledge into actionable guidance. Accurate agronomic knowledge is one of the most valuable tools for growers, but it’s not always accessible at the right moment. For years, Ag publications and meetings have been relied on to convey this information, with timely, relevant information being a top priority, especially for the specific time, location, and season,” said Bryan Vaughn, Managing Director, AgTech Breakthrough. “Global agriculture faces mounting challenges, and E.L.Y. from Bayer offers a scalable approach to support better decisions in the field. Its continued evolution by Bayer will play a role in shaping a food system that is not only more productive, but also more resilient to economic, environmental and regulatory pressures.”
About AgTech Breakthrough
Part of Tech Breakthrough, a leading market intelligence and recognition platform for global technology innovation and leadership, the AgTech Breakthrough Awards program is devoted to honoring excellence in agricultural & food technologies, services, companies and products around the world. The AgTech Breakthrough Awards program provides a forum for public recognition around the achievements of AgTech companies and solutions in categories including farm management, indoor farming, IoT and robotics, FoodTech, analytics and more. For more information visit AgTechBreakthrough.com.
Tech Breakthrough LLC does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in our recognition programs, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with award designations. Tech Breakthrough LLC recognition consists of the opinions of the Tech Breakthrough LLC organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Tech Breakthrough LLC disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this recognition program, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
Media Contact:
Bryan Vaughn
AgTech Breakthrough
Bryan@AgTechBreakthrough.com
949.529.4120
