MOLINE, IL and SAN FRANCISCO, CA (November 3, 2015) – Deere & Company (NYSE: DE) and The Climate Corporation, a subsidiary of Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON), have 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. 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," said Mike Stern, president and chief operating officer for The Climate Corporation. "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."

John May, president, agricultural solutions and chief information officer at Deere, said, "The agreements we are announcing allow John Deere to extend the range of retrofit options available from Precision Planting to many more products and into new geographies.

John Deere strengthens its position as the most open platform in the industry both in our equipment and the cloud-based data management solution known as the John Deere Operations Center."

Under the terms of the agreements, Deere will purchase Precision Planting while Climate will retain the digital agriculture portfolio that has been integrated into the Climate FieldView^TM platform. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including the approval of the relevant antitrust authorities to the extent required.

Stern said, "Our agreements enable farmers to combine the industry-leading technology of John Deere equipment with Climate FieldView^TM, the platform that offers farmers the broadest equipment connectivity in the industry backed by data science. This connectivity allows farmers to collect and directly share data to the Climate cloud, enables data visualization in the cab and supports the development of customized data science-driven insights."

"This strategic acquisition expands the John Deere precision agriculture business and accelerates our momentum as a market leader," May said. "Strategic use of information is an important factor in successful agriculture. Today's actions demonstrate John Deere's ongoing investments to enhance the product and service solutions we offer our customers."

The companies said customers will have the option to share their current and historical agronomic data between the John Deere Operations Center and the Climate FieldView^TM platform and seamlessly execute agronomic prescriptions with John Deere equipment.

Unease amongst some farmers.

However, Reuters report that the news was met with skepticism and some unease by some farmers who have long used Precision Planting's computer hardware and software tools, and farm equipment hardware, to help them plant seeds in ways that will be most productive for boosting yields.

"Precision Planting was a very innovative company," said Steve Pitstick, a corn and soybean farmer who farms about 2,600 acres in Illinois. "When they were privately held, they were bringing us two or three new things a year that were great.

"When Monsanto bought them, it was one or two new things a year, and nothing that wowed. Now, I don't know what to expect."