PEORIA, Ill. — Any hope Deere and Co. had remaining to acquire central Illinois-based Precision Planting LLC – a specialty tillage equipment business owned by The Climate Corp. (TCC), a subsidiary of Monsanto – was plowed under when TCC terminated its agreement to sell the company to Moline-based Deere on May 1.

 

The closing of the sale, which was announced by both parties in November 2015, had been delayed by U.S.

 

Department of Justice (DOJ) concerns with the transaction. An unresolved federal antitrust lawsuit filed by the DOJ sought to block Deere’s acquisition of Precision Planting.

 

Mike Stern, TCC CEO, told news sources the decision to rescind its agreement with Deere was “totally” based on delays and a “lack of clarity” from the DOJ. TCC will move forward with plans to sell Precision Planting and has spoken “with several third parties that have expressed interest in purchasing it,” according to a Monsanto news release announcing the decision.

Deere responded to the announcement by terminating its Digital Ag Connectivity agreement with TCC. A distribution agreement with Ag Lender was also ended.

 

The DOJ maintained in its antitrust lawsuit that if approved, the deal would have allowed Deere to “dominate the market for high-speed precision planting, and be able to raise prices and slow innovation at the expense of American farmers who rely on these systems,” Antitrust Division Acting Assistant Attorney General Renata Hesse said last year.

 

“We are deeply disappointed in this outcome, as we remain confident the acquisition would have benefited customers,” said John May, John Deere president of Agricultural Solutions and chief information officer. “With an opportunity to see this to conclusion, we believe it would have been clear the challenge to the transaction was based on flawed assessments of the marketplace.”

 

Deere countered the DOJ antitrust suit by filing a response claiming that farmers would benefit from the sale through better and faster innovation, with no loss to the competitive marketplace for specialty tillage equipment.

 

“Competition in precision agriculture is strong and growing ... as companies around the world continue developing new technologies,” Deere wrote in October 2016. “The acquisition will enable broader access to these advancements by ensuring farmers have the choice to either buy new machinery or retrofit older planting equipment with the latest innovations.

 

“When the transaction is finalized, Deere will preserve Precision Planting’s independence in order to ensure innovation and speed-to-market, and will invest in additional innovation efforts at Precision Planting to benefit customers.”

Deere had alleged the DOJ’s decision to pursue federal antitrust action blocking the sale was designed to protect an unnamed “specific competitor” for Precision Planting rather than to protect the concept of market competition.

 

“The DOJ initially cleared Deere’s acquisition of Precision Planting,” Deere Director of Global Public Relations Ken Golden told Farm World in November 2016. “However, a competitor to Deere protested, and the DOJ opened a new investigation and filed a lawsuit in an attempt to block the sale.”