DuPont Co. (DD), the most valuable U.S. chemical company, is collaborating with Deere & Co. (DE) to sell software intended to boost crop yields, a move that may challenge Monsanto Co. (MON) as it expands into the same area.Using the American Gothic parody I should maybe apologize for playing off the stereotype of farmers as unsophisticated hicks when the truth is he's probably some 40-year-old with two masters degrees lying in wait for the city slicker hedge fund manager to come pay him $10,000/acre but hey if repeating the cliché helps land the deal we are always open to consulting fees.
DuPont’s Pioneer seed unit will combine its Field360 software with Wireless Data Transfer technology from Deere, the world’s largest maker of agricultural equipment. Uploading data from the field as it’s collected can help growers make better decisions on seeds, fertilizer and other inputs, Wilmington, Delaware-based DuPont said today in a statement.
The Deere partnership bolsters DuPont’s farm-data offerings to better compete with Monsanto, the world’s biggest seed company. Monsanto last month bought The Climate Corp. for $930 million to provide farmers with weather and field data, and last year it paid $210 million for Precision Planting LLC to boost yields with variable planting technology.
DuPont uses GPS and tractor data to map such factors as grain moisture, historical yields and nutrient deficiencies. The data allows DuPont to advise growers on seed variety selection, on the timing of planting and harvest and on fields with low yields, said Joe Foresman, DuPont Pioneer director of services.
“What we are doing today with Deere enables us to do that faster,” Foresman said by phone. “The key thing here is speed and getting to a point where a farmer realizes benefits immediately.”
Customer Data
DuPont used customers’ data to map 20 million acres in the past year, including 12 million acres during last year’s harvest and 8 million during spring planting, Foresman said. The company provided 1.5 million acres of variable rate seeding prescriptions through its Field360 product, for which it charges $500 per farm, he said....MORE
As for the Grant Wood estate, I am sorry but you have to admit this is one of the funnier burlesques.
Previously:
Ha! Monsanto Buys Crop Insurer/Data Co. for $930 Mil. (MON)
McKinsey: Monetizing Freely Available Data (worth $3.2-$5.4Trillion per year)
