In a changing environment, innovation is not only welcome, it’s indispensable. Agriculture no longer relies solely on empirical knowledge passed down from generation to generation. Today, fields are monitored from the sky by drones, tractors drive themselves, and sensors alert us to critical moisture or nutrient levels.

Recognizing this transformation, Microsoft has relaunched its FarmBeats for Students program , an educational initiative that seeks to train the next generation of technologically savvy farmers.

The goal is to bring precision agriculture to young people without prior technical experience through free kits containing environmental sensors, data science, and artificial intelligence (AI).

The FarmBeats update includes a curriculum adaptable to any classroom, designed in collaboration with agricultural educators and aligned with international academic standards.

Students can build environmental monitoring systems and apply AI tools to analyze soil moisture or detect nutritional deficiencies in crops , facing real-world problems such as drought, frost, or pests.

This hands-on approach enables them to make decisions based on real-time data, just as farmers around the world are already doing by adopting technologies such as digital twins , machine automation , predictive analytics platforms , and cloud-connected sensors .

These tools not only optimize agricultural yields , but also enable more efficient and sustainable resource management.

The challenge now is to prepare future professionals in the field to operate in this new ecosystem.

It’s no longer enough to know how to sow or harvest; you need skills in data science, programming, electronics, and AI , as well as an innovative mindset.

FarmBeats is, in this sense, a seed that Microsoft is planting today to harvest a more resilient and inclusive future in the agricultural sector.

The program is emerging as a key tool for democratizing access to technology in rural areas and promoting more sustainable, smart, and competitive agriculture.

Comment and follow us on X:  @GrupoT21

El cargo FarmBeats: Technology that grows the future apareció primero en T21.

In September 2024, Mexico’s economic activity increased 0.2% compared to last August, driven mainly by agriculture and manufacturing , the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) announced on Friday .

According to the Global Indicator of Economic Activity (IGAE) , by component, in the ninth month of this year and with figures adjusted for seasonality, primary activities, which include agriculture, mining and fishing, increased 1.3 percent .

In the same month, secondary activities , which include manufacturing and construction, rose by 0.6 percent . Tertiary activities, which involve services such as trade, transportation and communications, education and health, fell by 0.1 percent .

At an annual rate, the IGAE increased by 0.8% in real terms. By major groups of activities, tertiary activities increased by 1.1% and primary activities by 0.6% . Secondary activities did not show any variation.

The IGAE allows us to know and monitor the evolution of the real sector of the economy in the short term, explained Inegi in its report.

According to the Board of Governors of the Bank of Mexico (Banxico) , in the third quarter of this year, national productive activity registered greater growth than in the three previous quarters, and according to its assessment, between the last quarter of 2023 and the second of this year, the growth rate remained stagnant.

In this context, he estimated that productive activity will show “sluggishness” in 2025, which has generated a slowdown in employment, and noted that the balance of risks for economic activity remained biased downwards.

It should be remembered that on November 14, the agency reported that it had applied a new cut of 25 basis points to its reference rate, leaving it at a level of  10.25 percent .

This resolution by Banxico was taken after the  Federal Reserve System (Fed) , the central bank of the United States, applied a reduction of a quarter of a percentage point to its rate, leaving it in a range of 4.50  to  4.75 percent .

Comment and follow us on X: @GrupoT21

El cargo AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURING BOOST MEXICAN ECONOMIC ACTIVITY IN SEPTEMBER apareció primero en T21.

Chihuahua, with 13.1%; Coahuila, with 12.7%; Baja California, with 0.3%; Nuevo León, with 9.9%; Tamaulipas, with 6.6% and Guanajuato, with 6.4%, were the states with the greatest contribution to the total value of exports in the second quarter of 2024 , reported the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) .

In the report on the results of Quarterly Exports by Federal Entity (ETEF) , the organization highlighted that, together, these entities accounted for 59% during the aforementioned period. It also specified that the value of exports by federal entity reached an amount of 139 thousand 354.2 million dollars (mdd) in the same period.

Chihuahua , which topped the list in the April-June 2024 period, recorded operations for 18,311.3 million dollars , although it had a 2.1% drop at an annual rate. Coahuila , with a contribution to Mexican exports equivalent to 17,662.6 million dollars , reported an advance of 9.4% compared to the second quarter of 2023.

Meanwhile, Baja California registered exports of 14,351.8 million dollars in the same period , with an annual variation of 4.4 percent. In Nuevo León , they totaled 13,781 million dollars , despite a 2.8% drop in the annual rate.

Tamaulipas reported exports of 9,224.6 million dollars , which meant an increase of 6.7 percent compared to the second quarter of 2023, and Guanajuato had a contribution to Mexican exports of 8,927.9 million dollars , with an increase of 10.9 percent annually.

The rest of the federal entities registered a 41% share of exports , which together grew 2.6%, with a value of 57 thousand 95 million dollars .

Meanwhile, during the second quarter of this year, the transportation equipment manufacturing subsector stood out for its participation in the total value of exports , with 40.3%; where Coahuila, Guanajuato, Chihuahua, Nuevo León, Puebla and San Luis Potosí were the entities with the greatest contribution in this activity, concentrating 63.8% of the value of these exports.

In turn, exports of computer, communication, measurement equipment and other electronic equipment, components and accessories in said period were: Chihuahua, Baja California, Jalisco, Tamaulipas, and Nuevo León accounted for 90.1% in this area in the reference period.

In the second quarter of 2024, the entities that contributed the most to the exports of accessories, electrical appliances and electric power generation equipment were: Nuevo León, Chihuahua, Tamaulipas, Baja California and Querétaro, with 70.7% of the total exports of this subsector.

In turn, Campeche, Tabasco, Veracruz, Chiapas and Tamaulipas accounted for all exports from the oil and gas extraction subsector in the aforementioned period.

During the reference period, the states with the highest participation in exports from the agricultural subsector were: Sonora, Michoacán, Jalisco, Baja California and Guanajuato, which accounted for 78.5 percent.

According to the report, the states in northern Mexico were the ones that maintained their leadership in exports during the second quarter of 2024.

Comment and follow us on X:  @GrupoT21

El cargo Northern Mexico dominates exports during Q2 2024: Inegi apareció primero en T21.

The  National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI)  reported that the country’s economic activity grew by 0.6% at a monthly rate in July 2024, according to the Global Indicator of Economic Activity (IGAE) , which allows us to know and monitor the evolution of the real sector of the economy.

In this report, Inegi highlighted that by component, in the seventh month this year and with figures adjusted for seasonality, primary activities , which include agriculture, livestock, fishing and other activities, grew 11.6 percent .

Meanwhile, tertiary services , which include services such as trade, transportation and communications, education and health, increased by 0.4% ; and secondary services , which include manufacturing and construction, grew by 0.2 percent  in July 2024.

At an annual rate and with seasonally adjusted series, the IGAE increased by 2% in real terms. By major groups of activities, primary activities increased by 12.5%; tertiary activities by 2.2% and secondary activities by 0.6%.

These figures come after the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the second quarter of 2024 in Mexico registered a growth of 0.2% , compared to the first three months of the year.

Financial specialists and institutions do not perceive a favorable outlook for GDP, and have therefore reduced their growth forecasts to between 1.5 and 2.3% this year for various reasons, including the uncertainty generated by the reform of the Judiciary and the disappearance of autonomous bodies .

Also, there is the expectation of a change of government in the country with the arrival of Claudia Sheinbaum to the Presidency of the Republic, who will assume office on October 1.

Furthermore, on September 18, the  Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the  United States Federal Reserve cut the funding rate by 50 basis points (bp), which will place the rate between 4.75 and 5.00 points.

For various analysts in the sector, the Fed’s decision sends a message about where the economy is headed, which could affect Mexico due to the close commercial relationship it has with its northern neighbor .

Comment and follow us on X: @GrupoT21

El cargo Primary Activities Boost the Mexican Economy in July apareció primero en T21.

Between January and July of this year, Mexico maintained a surplus in the agri-food trade balance of six thousand 382 million dollars (mdd) , that is, 9.38% more than in the same period in 2023, totaling 33 thousand 276 million dollars, reported the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Sader) .

The federal agency highlighted in a statement that during this period, agricultural exports grew 5.54% to 33,276 million dollars , while imports increased 4.67% , totaling 26,895 million dollars .

With these figures, the agricultural and agro-industrial balance sheet remains in surplus, and records its third largest positive balance in 30 years , detailed Sader.

Domestically, the agricultural and fishing balance recorded a surplus of 2,704 million dollars , 1,580 million dollars higher than that achieved in January-July 2023, an increase of 140.59%, with exports of 14,751 million dollars.

Meanwhile, the agro-industrial balance had a surplus of 3,678 million dollars , which was 1,033 million dollars less than that registered in the same period last year, with foreign sales of 18,525 million dollars.

Sader also pointed out that beverages , vegetables and fruits were the main export groups with 61% of the total.

In the first seven months of the year, the exports that grew the most were frozen orange juice , with an increase of 80.85%, followed by cattle, with an increase of 58.74%, and coffee, tea or yerba mate preparations, with 50.59 percent.

From January to July, the exports with the highest economic value were beer , with an amount of 4,161 million dollars.

This was followed by tequila and mezcal , with 2,505 million dollars; avocado , 2,091 million dollars; fresh or refrigerated tomatoes , with 1,963 million dollars, and bakery products , with 1,640 million dollars.

Comment and follow us on X: @GrupoT21

El cargo Agri-Food Trade Balance Remains Positive in Mexico; Which Products Were the Most Exported? apareció primero en T21.