February 23, 2014
The Climate Corporation announced last week the acquisition of the soil analysis business line of Solum, an agriculture technology company.
The acquisition of Solum's industry-leading soil analysis service underscores The Climate Corporation's commitment to using data science to help farmers identify ways they can continue to optimize crop yields and use resources more efficiently. David Friedberg, CEO of The Climate Corporation, emphasized the importance of precision soil analysis in order to produce the most effective advisory services for farmers.
Monsanto Acquires Soil Analysis Business Called Solum
"Each season, farmers face a wide range of soil-related decisions that can help them improve the productivity of the finite land they farm," Friedberg says. "High quality, consistent soil analysis will ensure farmers, agronomists and ag retailers can offer and access improved decision support resources to increase on-farm efficiency."
The asset acquisition by Monsanto Company, The Climate Corporation's parent company, includes the Solum brand, soil testing intellectual property, the soil test lab in Ames, Iowa, and Solum's No-Wait NitrateTM platform. The Ames lab will continue to provide its highly accurate and reliable mail-in sample service to help customers measure and manage their soil fertility.
The Climate Corporation will continue to operate Solum's No-Wait Nitrate platform, which offers real-time measurement of soil nitrate levels from the edge of the field. The Climate Corporation has extended job offers to all Solum employees working in their soil testing business. Solum's software business line will remain independent under its new brand, Granular.
"We're pleased to become a part of The Climate Corporation team and see this as a tremendous opportunity to provide a new level of accurate soil information that will ultimately help stakeholders across agriculture use resources more efficiently," says Nick Koshnick, co-founder of Solum, who will lead the continued development of the Solum technology as part of The Climate Corporation.
Soil composition and fertility is the foundation of agricultural production, and understanding soil variability and nutrient profiles is essential to making effective precision agriculture decisions. Tailoring inputs to optimize soil productivity ultimately helps farmers improve their overall productivity and increase yields.
"The technology The Climate Corporation is gaining in this acquisition, as well as the research and development we currently have underway, will continue to improve our ability to deliver better insights and recommendations to farmers," adds Friedberg.
Additional details of the agreement were not disclosed.
Source: Monsanto
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