Monsanto, the parent company of The Climate Corporation, has cancelled its deal to sell Climate’s Precision Planting equipment business to Deere & Company.
The agreement, which was announced in November 2015, was delayed by a U.S. Department of Justice legal challenge.
“We are deeply disappointed in this outcome as we remain confident the acquisition would have benefited customers,” said John May, Deere’s President, Agricultural Solutions and Chief Information Officer, in a statement on May 1.
Deere was prepared to present its case for the approval of the acquisition later this year, May said: “With an opportunity to see this to conclusion, we believe it would have been clear the challenge to the transaction was based on flawed assessments of the marketplace.”
Monsanto says Climate Corp’s strategic decision to focus on its digital ag platform has not changed, noting it still plans to sell the Precision Planting business and has already spoken with several third parties who have expressed interest.
Two agreements related to Deere’s purchase of Precision Planting are also being terminated, including a digital ag connectivity agreement between Deere and Climate Corp and an agreement that would have allowed Ag Leader to expand access to and distribution of certain Precision Planting products.
Monsanto says the termination will not impact customers who currently use Deere’s Wireless Data Server to stream data to their Climate FieldView accounts.
“The company has sold more than 10,000 Climate FieldViewT Drive devices that stream real-time data from planters, sprayers and combines, with more than 70 percent of FieldView Drive data streaming from John Deere planters and combines today. Climate FieldView also will retain connectivity with Precision Planting’s industry leading 20/20 SeedSense monitor, regardless of the planned sale of the business,” said a statement from Monsanto.
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