Deere to acquire Precision Planting; The
Climate Corporation, a subsidiary of Monsanto, to
gain connectivity to John Deere equipment
MOLINE, Ill. and SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 3,
2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Deere & Company (NYSE: DE) and
The Climate Corporation, a subsidiary of Monsanto Company (NYSE:
MON), have signed definitive agreements for Deere to acquire the
Precision Planting LLC equipment business and to enable exclusive
near real-time data connectivity between certain John Deere farm
equipment and the Climate FieldViewTM platform. The
agreements represent the industry's first and only near real-time
in-cab wireless connection to John Deere equipment by a third
party.
"To maximize the value of digital agriculture, farmers need
solutions for simple and seamless collection of in-field agronomic
data," said Mike Stern, president
and chief operating officer for The Climate Corporation. "As a
result of these milestone agreements, farmers will experience the
fastest, most frequent and highest resolution third-party
connectivity between John Deere's equipment and the Climate
FieldView platform."
John May, president, agricultural
solutions and chief information officer at Deere, said, "The
agreements we are announcing allow John Deere to extend the range
of retrofit options available from Precision Planting to many more
products and into new geographies.
John Deere strengthens its position as the most open platform in
the industry both in our equipment and the cloud-based data
management solution known as the John Deere Operations Center."
Under the terms of the agreements, Deere will purchase Precision
Planting while Climate will retain the digital agriculture
portfolio that has been integrated into the Climate FieldView
platform. The acquisition is subject to customary closing
conditions, including the approval of the relevant antitrust
authorities to the extent required.
Stern said, "Our agreements enable farmers to combine the
industry-leading technology of John Deere equipment with Climate
FieldView, the platform that offers farmers the broadest equipment
connectivity in the industry backed by data science. This
connectivity allows farmers to collect and directly share data to
the Climate cloud, enables data visualization in the cab and
supports the development of customized data science-driven
insights."
"This strategic acquisition expands the John Deere precision
agriculture business and accelerates our momentum as a market
leader," May said. "Strategic use of information is an important
factor in successful agriculture. Today's actions demonstrate John
Deere's ongoing investments to enhance the product and service
solutions we offer our customers."
The companies said customers will have the option to share their
current and historical agronomic data between the John Deere
Operations Center and the Climate FieldView platform and seamlessly
execute agronomic prescriptions with John Deere equipment.
About Deere & Company
Deere & Company is a world leader in providing advanced
products and services and is committed to the success of customers
whose work is linked to the land – those who cultivate, harvest,
transform, enrich and build upon the land to meet the world's
dramatically increasing need for food, fuel, shelter and
infrastructure. Since 1837, John Deere has delivered
innovative products of superior quality built on a tradition of
integrity. For more information, visit www.JohnDeere.com.
About The Climate Corporation
The Climate Corporation, a division of Monsanto Company, aims to
help farmers around the world improve their farming operations with
uniquely powerful software and hardware. The company's proprietary
Climate FieldView™ platform combines local weather monitoring,
agronomic modeling, and high-resolution weather simulations to
deliver Climate FieldView Prime™, Climate FieldView Plus™ and
Climate FieldView Pro™, online and mobile solutions that help
farmers improve profitability by making better informed operating
decisions. The company's unique technologies help the global
agriculture industry to stabilize and improve profits and,
ultimately, help feed the world. For more information, please visit
www.climate.com or follow the company on Twitter @climatecorp.
About Monsanto Company
Monsanto is committed to bringing a broad range of solutions to
help nourish our growing world. We produce seeds for fruits,
vegetables and key crops – such as corn, soybeans, and cotton –
that help farmers have better harvests while using water and other
important resources more efficiently. We work to find sustainable
solutions for soil health, help farmers use data to improve farming
practices and conserve natural resources, and provide crop
protection products to minimize damage from pests and disease.
Through programs and partnerships, we collaborate with farmers,
researchers, nonprofit organizations, universities and others to
help tackle some of the world's biggest challenges. To learn more
about Monsanto, our commitments and our more than 20,000 dedicated
employees, please visit: discover.monsanto.com and monsanto.com.
Follow our business on Twitter® at twitter.com/MonsantoCo, on the
company blog, Beyond the Rows® at monsantoblog.com or subscribe to
our News Release RSS Feed.
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SOURCE Deere & Company