The Climate Corporation, a subsidiary of Monsanto Company, today unveiled for the first time more than 35 projects in its research and development pipeline. The company also announced plans to expand its industry-leading Climate FieldView digital agriculture platform into new international geographies over the next few years. Climate’s announcement follows Monsanto’s annual R&D pipeline update.
The company is sharing an unprecedented level of detail on its R&D pipeline, which is the broadest and most robust in the digital agriculture industry. “The digital ag industry continues to accelerate rapidly as more farmers experience the value data-driven digital tools can bring their operations,” said Mike Stern, chief executive officer for The Climate Corporation. “At Climate, constant innovation has been paramount to the delivery of our Climate FieldView platform that’s helping thousands of farmers unlock the value of their field data to enhance productivity. Our commitment to innovation is reflected in the breadth and depth of our R&D pipeline, and we will continue to expand the geographic availability of our tools to deliver new digital technologies to farmers across the globe.”
The science behind the company’s widely adopted Climate FieldView platform leverages data from the soil, field and atmosphere to help farmers better understand field variability and customize their agronomic practices to get the most out of every acre.
“There’s a tremendous opportunity for farmers to maximize their yield potential by tailoring their management practices to address field variability,” said Sam Eathington, chief scientist for The Climate Corporation. “Farming at the zone level is the new reality. Climate is already delivering advanced seed scripting and zone-level nitrogen monitoring capabilities, and our robust research pipeline ensures we will continue to provide farmers actionable insights to help them operate more efficiently and sustainably, while supporting all of the key decisions they have to make each year to optimize yield.”
Climate R&D Pipeline Highlights
Seeds & Planting Product Selection – Placing the right seed in the right location is critical to achieving optimal yield. Through the collection and analysis of millions of data points on seed product performance across many geographies, Climate’s seed product selection research is designed to help farmers select the most ideal seed products for their fields.
Fertility Prescriptions – To help farmers efficiently manage fertility and maximize productivity, Climate is working to develop variable rate prescription tools for nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. With these tools, Climate expects to provide the industry’s first comprehensive fertility solution, delivering customized insights for crop nutrition and fertility management, tailored to farmers’ unique goals.
Field Health – Disease Insights – Climate’s field health R&D is focused on providing data that helps farmers see what’s happening in each field, prioritize in-season crop management, and use satellite imagery and other field data to make input decisions for the next season. Climate’s field health research includes a package of disease insights aimed at identifying and predicting disease vulnerability, as well as diagnosing key crop diseases using artificial intelligence capabilities. A first for the digital ag industry, Climate is also developing a new directed scouting tool to help farmers understand which fields to prioritize during scouting, helping them save time and protect their yield before it’s impacted at the end of the season.
In less than two growing seasons, the Climate FieldView platform has quickly become the most broadly connected platform in the United States and has continued to expand into new global regions, including recent expansion into Canada and Brazil. In November, the company acquired VitalFields, a European farm management software company based in Tallinn, Estonia, marking the company’s first step into the European market. The company plans to bring the Climate FieldView platform to Europe, South Africa, Australia and Argentina over the next few years.
Officially launched in 2015, the Climate FieldView platform is on more than 100 million acres across the United States and Brazil, with more than 100,000 U.S. farmers engaging in Climate’s digital tools. Backed by the most powerful data science engine and most extensive field research network in the agriculture industry, the Climate FieldView platform delivers customized insights that help farmers make data-driven decisions with confidence to maximize yield potential, improve efficiency and manage risk
