German technology and chemical giants Bosch and BASF have joined forces to make spraying technology more accessible for farmers across the globe.
The 50/50 joint venture, registered as Bosch BASF Smart Farming, last week received approval from all relevant merger control authorities.
One of the first products to be launched as part of the joint venture will be the Smart Spraying system.
Bosch's camera sensor technology and software has been combined with BASF's Xarvio crop optimisation platform in a bid to reinvent field sprayers and reduce herbicide use by up to 70 per cent.
Smart Spraying offers real-time, automated pre-emergence (green-on-brown) and post-emergence (green-on-green) weed identification and management.
The company has set up its headquarters in Cologne, Germany. BASF's Silvia Cifre Wibrow and Bosch's Florian Gwosdz have been appointed as joint managing directors.
Mr Gwosdz said receiving approval for the merger was an important milestone.
"We have established the new company together, built the new team and continued to test our products successfully under different climatic conditions with various manufacturers," he said.
"Our Smart Spraying solution continues to return consistent, positive test results, which clearly shows the combination of our hardware, software and advanced agronomic logic delivers."
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Smart Spraying is in the testing phase and will initially be marketed in North America, South America and Europe.
Ms Wibrow said with Smart Spraying, they were bringing a new digital solution to market and new approach to weed management.
"The unique ability for Smart Spraying to see, decide and spray based on agronomic intelligence is not just financially good for farmers, but it's good for the environment, sustainability and biodiversity," she said.