Q&A: Trimble Clarifies Vision For AGRI-TREND Acquisition

Trimble’s announcement this week of the acquisition of Canadian independent consultant network AGRI-TREND raised quite a few eyebrows around the office. So we connected with Michael Helling, business development in Trimble’s Agriculture Division, to go beyond the press release.

EDITOR’S NOTE: All forward-looking statements below by Trimble should be should be viewed as unofficial, since the acquisition has not closed yet. The acquisition is expected to close by month’s end (November 2015).

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PrecisionAg.com: What are the initial plans for AGRI-TREND’S integration into Trimble branded products and services? What’s the timeline on integration, etc.?

Michael Helling: “AGRI-TREND will continue business as usual with no change to the day-to-day operations. Upon the Trimble acquisition (expected to close by end of November), AGRI-TREND will have access to a Trimble toolset that can help both the grower and his trusted advisor increase efficiencies while improving the productivity across the farming operation. A few examples of Trimble’s agronomic toolset include PurePIxel crop health image analysis toolset, Soil Information System (SIS) soil analysis platform, RainWave precipitation monitoring, and the UX5 UAS system.”

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PA.com: In the press release it states “Trimble Connected Farm Advisor will integrate with the AGRI-DATA platform. How so, and what should retail users of Farm Advisor expect to change?

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MH: “A broader range of solution toolsets. A portion of Trimble’s toolsets (some of which are mentioned above) will be available within the AGRI-TREND coaching network. Trimble and AGRI-TREND will be looking at how each platform’s toolsets (AGRI-DATA and Connected Farm) can be augmented by the other.”

PA.com: The press release states that this acquisition will “create a combined offering that’s unique in the marketplace.” How so?

MH: “We believe that the combination of AGRI-TREND’s unbiased expert advice and Trimble’s brand agnostic precision agriculture solutions is unique to the industry today. Trimble’s global reach and breath of technology paired with AGRI-TREND’s depth of agriculture technical expertise empowers growers and their advisors to gain efficiencies not realized today.”

PA.com: Why this acquisition at this time for Trimble? How does this acquisition strengthen Trimble in both the short and long term?

MH: As Trimble progresses towards providing total farm management for the grower, AGRI-TREND molded well with this vision. With the acquisition of AGRI-TREND, Trimble can continue to provide a truly brand agnostic solution that spans across decision support and the execution of those decisions.

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