John Deere is attempting to waylay US regulator’s concerns of market domination following their acquisition of Precision Planting by allowing precision agriculture competitor, Ag Leader to sell select Precision Planting products.
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The Ag Leader deal will only proceed if Deere’s acquisition of Precision Planting from Monsanto subsidiary the Climate Corporation is allowed to proceed by the US Department of Justice which has challenged the transaction.
The deal would see Ag Leader able to sell Precision Planting’s Speed Tube and related products, vSet, vDrive and DeltaForce under those brand names.
The company would also be able to further develop these products.
Deere said the deal would “further enhance competition and innovation in the market and expands customers' choices for planting equipment, whether they are buying new machinery or retrofitting older planting equipment made by various manufacturers with the latest innovations in planting technology.”
John Deere signed a definitive agreement in November 2015 to buy Precision Planting but the US Department of Justice stepped in in August this year delaying its completion.
Deere is contesting the action with responses filed last week.
American website Farm Industry News says it is not clear if third party Precision Planting product buyers like Agco and Case IH will buy from Ag Leader however a Deere statement says the company “anticipates Ag Leader will sell Precision Planting components to retrofit Deere and other brands of planters and will provide a separate and competitive source of supply for OEM planter manufacturers that choose to equip their products with Precision Planting components.”
