The same week it announced its acquisition of The Climate Corporation’s Precision Planting LLC equipment business, Deere & Company signs an agreement to acquire Monosem, a European market leader in precision planters. The purchase includes the company’s four facilities in France and two in the United States.
“Through this action, we continue to build on our leadership position in precision agriculture,” said John May, president, Agricultural Solutions and Chief Information Officer. “Monosem is admired for its innovation and success in precision planter technology that helps farmers increase production. Acquiring this market leader positions John Deere to serve more customers worldwide.”
Deere does not plan to change the independent nature of Monosem. May said the business will retain its own brand and trademark and will leverage its own operational strengths. Monosem has been a family-owned enterprise through three generations since it was founded in 1948.
In a separate announcement, Deere & Company and The Climate Corporation, a subsidiary of Monsanto Company, 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 FieldView platform.
According to Monsanto, 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,” says Mike Stern, The Climate Corporation president and chief operating officer. “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.”
Under the terms of the agreements, Deere will purchase Precision Planting while Climate Corp. will retain the digital agriculture portfolio that has been integrated into the Climate FieldView platform. The acquisition is subject to closing conditions, including the approval of the relevant antitrust authorities to the extent required.
