SUNNYVALE, Calif., Nov. 10, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Trimble (NASDAQ:
TRMB) announced today that it will acquire the assets of privately
held AGRI-TREND® of Red Deer, Alberta,
Canada, which operates the largest network of independent
agricultural consultants in North
America. The acquisition will enable Trimble to provide
agronomists and other crop advisors with a stronger set of
brand-agnostic tools they can use to advise growers on how to
better manage their operations. The combination of AGRI-TREND's
experience in agronomy, grain marketing, farm business and data
management together with Trimble's experience in precision
agriculture will further empower growers to gain efficiencies
throughout the entire farming cycle. The acquisition is expected to
close in November 2015. Financial
terms were not disclosed.
AGRI-TREND's network of over 200 specialists spread throughout
the U.S. and Canada includes over
110 independent "coaches" specializing in agronomy, precision
farming, crop marketing and farm business management. Coaches are
supported by a team of science specialists comprised of over 30
Ph.D.'s and M.Sc.'s providing in-house research, training and
insight support for both the coaching network and the AGRI-DATA®
Solution platform--a proprietary farm data management solution. As
a result, AGRI-TREND's solutions enable growers to make informed
business decisions that better allocate scarce resources to produce
safe and environmentally sustainable food.
"Trimble's acquisition of AGRI-TREND is another step towards
total farm management for the grower. Together with Connected Farm,
we will provide growers and their trusted advisors with a combined
offering that is unique in the marketplace today," said
Joe Denniston, vice president for
Trimble's Agriculture Division. "AGRI-TREND is a leader in
providing expert advice and decision support for growing crops,
marketing commodities and managing a farm's finances. Trimble is a
leader in precision agriculture technology that precisely applies
those decisions whether it is seed, nutrients or water. Together,
Trimble and AGRI-TREND will enable the integration of decisions and
execution to give greater control over the outcome, resulting in
maximized productivity for the grower."
"AGRI-TREND has been working side by side with farmers for over
17 years. With the strength that Trimble provides, we aim to help
even more farmers as the move to precision agriculture continues to
gain momentum globally," said Rob
Saik, founder of AGRI-TREND. "The combination of our
advanced agricultural technical expertise and Trimble's exceptional
precision agriculture tools provides us with a platform that will
support production practices that are sustainable both from an
environmental and financial perspective for today's farmers. We're
excited to be a part of the future of agriculture, and we're
pleased to work with the great people at Trimble."
Full Farm Support
Grow the Crop: To assist in optimizing crop growth,
AGRI-TREND has a network of experienced agronomists who serve as a
personal Agri-Coach™ to help farm customers assess the performance
of every acre on a yearly basis. Agri-Coaches work on the
analytics, looking at the cost of production as well as nitrogen
and water use efficiency, interpreting the data and making
customized recommendations for each field. Recommendations are then
followed up with field scouting and performance tracking to ensure
farm goals are met.
Sell the Crop: To maximize crop sales, AGRI-TREND
creates a Strategic Marketing Plan that includes business analysis,
operational strategy, risk management and a harvest review. This
customized plan is developed by an AGRI-TREND Market-Coach™ who
works closely with each farm client to understand the unique
situation of their farm and the cost of production for each field.
The AGRI-TREND Market-Coach then provides advice on how to best
achieve better selling prices, risk mitigation and optimal cash
flow for their farm customers.
Manage the Money: In order to enable farmers to
better manage their money, AGRI-TREND provides a network of
Business-Coach™ Professionals, which consists of experts in
specialized areas such as accounting, banking, corporate finance
and insurance. The Business-Coach starts by gaining an
understanding of the farm business including strengths and
weaknesses, measuring the farm's performance against benchmarks,
creating the Strategic Farm Business Plan™ and then implementing
the farmer's long-term growth plan.
The AGRI-DATA Solution
The AGRI-DATA Solution is a complete farm management platform
that focuses on the unique agronomic challenges that farmers face
every year as they work to maximize yields and profits. This
platform is the foundation for AGRI-TREND advisors as they work on
crop planning, crop input tracking, soil sampling, tissue testing,
manure analysis, fertilizer blending, field scouting, harvest data
tracking and more. The platform supports over 75,000,000 legacy
acres with over eight million acres added in 2015. Farmers have
also adopted the AGRI-DATA mobile applications for both Android™
and iOS devices, preferring to work with their information on the
go. For more information, visit: www.AgriDataSolution.com.
Trimble Connected Farm Advisor
Trimble Connected Farm Advisor--a field data management tool for
the farmer's trusted advisor--will be integrated with the AGRI-DATA
platform to empower AGRI-TREND coaches with a greater toolset to
deliver more services to their growers.
If you would like to learn how to become an AGRI-TREND coach,
visit: w3.agritrend.com/join-agritrend. Growers interested in
finding an AGRI-TREND coach to work with, can visit:
www.agritrend.com/contact-us/find-a-coach-professional. To learn
more about Connected Farm, visit: www.connectedfarm.com.
About AGRI-TREND
AGRI-TREND has been helping growers achieve exceptional results
for more than 17 years and today represents North America's most expansive network of
agricultural advisors. From crop consulting to farm business
management, precision farming to complete data management,
AGRI-TREND helps farm operations improve efficiency, maximize yield
and plan for the future. See more at:
http://agritrend.com.
About Trimble's Agriculture Division
Trimble Agriculture solutions enable customers to maximize
efficiency and reduce chemical and fertilizer inputs while also
protecting natural resources and the environment. Trimble's
precision agriculture solutions cover all seasons, crops, terrains,
and farm sizes, and its brand-agnostic strategy allows farmers to
use Trimble products on most vehicles in their fleet--regardless of
manufacturer. To enable better decision making, Trimble offers the
Connected Farm™ solution which allows farmers to collect, share,
and manage information across their farm in real time. To optimize
water use, Trimble provides water solutions for irrigation,
drainage, and land leveling. Trimble's product suite includes
vehicle and implement guidance and steering, as well as a portfolio
of correction options that are the most versatile of their kind in
the industry. Additional solutions include an unmanned aircraft
system (UAS) for aerial imaging and mapping; application control
for seed, liquid, and granular products; a harvest solution; and
farm management software. For more information on Trimble
Agriculture, visit: www.trimble.com/agriculture.
About Trimble
Trimble applies technology to make field and mobile workers in
businesses and government significantly more productive. Solutions
are focused on applications requiring position or
location--including surveying, construction, agriculture, fleet and
asset management, public safety and mapping. In addition to
utilizing positioning technologies, such as GPS, lasers and optics,
Trimble solutions may include software content specific to the
needs of the user. Wireless technologies are utilized to deliver
the solution to the user and to ensure a tight coupling of the
field and the back office. Founded in 1978, Trimble is
headquartered in Sunnyvale,
Calif.
For more information, visit: www.trimble.com.
Certain statements made in this press release are forward
looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the
Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934, and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of
the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements
involve risks and uncertainties, and actual events and results may
differ materially from those described in this news release.
Factors that could cause or contribute to such
differences include, but are not limited to: successfully
closing the acquisition and realizing the anticipated benefits from
the acquisition; market adoption and growth prospects for
AGRI-TREND solutions among agronomists, other crop advisors and
growers; and Trimble's ability to successfully integrate AGRI-TREND
solutions with Connected Farm and provide compelling offerings that
maximize productivity for growers. Additional risks and
uncertainties include: the risks inherent in integrating an
acquisition; unanticipated expenditures, charges or assumed
liabilities that may result from the acquisition; and retaining key
personnel and commercial relationships. Information about potential
factors which could affect Trimble's business and financial results
is set forth in reports filed with the SEC, including Trimble's
quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and its annual report on Form 10-K.
All forward looking statements are based on information available
to Trimble as of the date hereof, and Trimble assumes no obligation
to update such statements.
GTRMB
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SOURCE Trimble