Monsanto targets local growth

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Image credit: flickr User: Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens

Australian farmers will soon have an opportunity to improve their farming practices and lift production as Monsanto, the world’s largest seed company, is planning to introduce a range of new technologies and help farmers improve results with the use of data analytics.

Image credit: flickr User:  Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens
Image credit: flickr User: Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens

According to the article on The Australian, Monsanto has invested heavily in the last year to gain access to technology that would improve decision making, boost yields and manage risks in agriculture.

In October last year, Monsanto agreed to pay about $US930 million for US tech company Climate Corp which provides farmers with weather data and farm modelling to help them deliver improved results.

Last week, under Monsanto’s ownership, Climate Corp announced the acquisition of the soil analysis business line of Solum, and in 2012 Monsanto paid $US210 million for Precision Planting, which developed an iPad interface that farmers use in their tractors to adjust planting rates.

Both acquisitions have now been combined under a Monsanto business called the Integrated Farming Systems platform.

Adertisement

“We have mapped out the decisions a farmer makes in a year, like seed selection, fertiliser and pest management strategies,“ said Mike Frank, the US-based head of Monsanto’s international row crops and global vegetable business.

“In each of these, there are multiple variables that need to be put into the equation to really make the best decision: for example, past weather, soil types, future weather predictions, commodity prices today and into the future,” Mr Frank said of the platform.

According to him, the new data analytics technology that had significantly improved crop yields is America would be marketed to Australian farmers in the year ahead.

“We would love to bring this technology to Australia and we believe there is a real thirst and desire for these tools in Australia. We will look to Australia as one of the opportunity countries,” said Mr Frank in an interview for the Australian.

“We will look for markets and farmers that really want to adopt technology. I have been very impressed in my meetings here about the thirst for this technology in Australia.”

Monsanto has also launched a program called Climate Basic which helps farmers map their fields and look at historical climate and weather data to make better economic decisions through the year.

“We are spending a lot of time and energy in the field of precision agriculture — helping farmers with making better decisions and using all the data that could be available, using data science to help farmers make better decisions throughout the season to increase productivity and improve their environmental stewardship decisions,” Mr Frank said.

Mr Frank also revealed that the group would make announcements in the coming months on supporting new infrastructure in Australian farming communities.