Monsanto Company to Purchase Planting Technology Developer Precision Planting

aginfo

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ST. LOUIS, May 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- In line with its vision of delivering yield to farmers sustainably, Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) today announced it reached an agreement to purchase planting technology developer Precision Planting, Inc., a proven leader in improving yields through on-farm planting performance.

The Precision Planting team will become part of Monsanto's Integrated Farming Systems unit, which utilizes advanced agronomic practices, seed genetics and innovative on-farm technology to deliver optimal yield to farmers while using fewer resources. Precision Planting has a long history of innovations that optimize planter performance and increase yield potential, including the new FieldView? technology, which offers an application designed to monitor all critical aspects of planter performance and crop data analysis. That will complement Monsanto's planned Integrated Farming Systems offering of science-based agronomic seed prescriptions combined with next-generation precision equipment to help farmers boost yields and reduce risk.

"This underscores our commitment to maximizing yield for farmers while optimizing crop inputs, which is central to our vision of sustainable agriculture," said Robb Fraley, Monsanto's chief technology officer. Fraley noted that as a company focused on yield, Monsanto is well-positioned to advance the latest planting technology applications and looks forward to continuing its work with seed dealers, Precision Planting dealers and leading equipment companies to achieve this.

"Precision Planting's goal is to boost yields through equipment innovation," said Gregg Sauder, founder of Precision Planting. "Monsanto delivers yield through genetics and traits. Together, we can develop the advanced planting technologies that accurately deliver the optimum genetics to each square foot of soil."

Based in Tremont, Ill., Precision Planting was founded in 1993 by Sauder and his wife, Cindy. The Sauders had an interest in and talent for developing planter add-ons to achieve precise depth and spacing to maximize yields and crop performance on their own farm. The company has grown significantly since then and today is a technology leader that develops the latest software, hardware and after-market production equipment to help farmers plant, harvest and analyze data from each field to improve yield and productivity. Precision Planting has a rich pipeline including a system designed to help simplify variable rate planting and increase farmers' yields through more accurate planting.

The Precision Planting operations will remain in Tremont and all Precision employees will be offered their continued jobs in Tremont. Monsanto agreed to pay $210 million for the business, plus a performance-based payment of up to $40 million.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close this summer. Other terms were not disclosed.

Read more at http://monsanto.mediaroom.com/2012-...Leader-in-Delivering-Yield-Through-Technology
 

aginfo

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Robb Fraley, chief technology officer of Monsanto, announced today that the company has entered into an agreement to acquire Precision Planting. This acquisition will help complete Monsanto?s Integrated Farming System (IFS) platform, which aims to marry the genetic knowledge of seeds with the technologies of strategic field placement for maximum yield.

"Precision Planting offers aftermarket technology that works with some of the original equipment manufacturing planting equipment, John Deere equipment, AGCO equipment, Kinze equipment and helps to refine and improve it," Fraley says. "It also creates the potential and I think it leads to natural collaborations with these larger equipment manufacturers."

Precision Planting was founded in 1993 by Gregg Sauder and his wife, Cindy. Today, the company?s software and hardware products include seed metering, yield mapping, planter monitoring and fertilizer attachments.

"When we stepped into harvest monitors, we showed that as a company, we were beyond just planting, and we wanted to close the information loop in farming," Sauder says. "By joining the IFS platform, I believe this is where our company needs to go, and it?s another whole level. It?s not just positioning seeds for success, but it is changing the way that farmers think about corn production. This is the step we were always missing before the opportunity with Monsanto."

With its first product expected to launch in 2014 in the Midwest, IFS was introduced as a concept in November 2011. It is a proposed platform that will combine the knowledge of seed genetics with known soils and field data and then equipment to strategically plant corn for maximum yields.

"We were able to test last year that our predictive algorithms, our scripts, which we will call FieldScripts, really work. Last year, we tested with a large number of growers. We saw on average about a 10 bu. per acre yield increase with our FieldScript versus the other farmers' own practice," Fraley explains.


Sauder says that IFS is what changed his mind about selling the company he founded almost 20 years ago.

"If you would have asked me two years ago if I would ever sell Precision Planting, I would have said no," he explains. "But I knew there would be potholes in our path to growth, and I can say that IFS has smoothed out our future. This acquisition by Monsanto will give us broader opportunities and security. We will go further faster."

More at http://www.agweb.com/article/monsanto_plans_to_acquire_precision_planting/
 
 
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