PEORIA, Ill. — When central Illinois-based Precision Planting LLC, a longtime vendor at the Greater Peoria Farm Show (GPFS), sets up camp in the Exhibition Hall of the Peoria Civic Center (PCC) for the 34th annual show, it will do so under new ownership.

Consequently, the color scheme of the booth might just have a hint of a green shade to it this year – JD green, to be specific. John Deere Co. and The Climate Corp., a subsidiary of Monsanto Co., purchased the majority of assets of Precision Planting’s equipment business in November, including facilities, brand and the majority of the company’s hardware and systems. Precision Planting’s leadership, most of its employees, dealer relationships and OEM (original equipment manufacturer) customers will remain intact.

The definitive agreement for the sale will enable exclusive “near real-time” data connectivity between certain Deere farm equipment and the Climate FieldView platform, representing the industry’s first and only near real-time in-cab wireless connection to Deere equipment by a third party, according to the San Francisco-based Climate Corp.

“To maximize the value of digital agriculture, farmers need solutions for simple and seamless collection of in-field agronomic data,” said Mike Stern, president and chief operating officer of Climate Corp. “As a result of these milestone agreements, farmers will experience the fastest, most frequent and highest resolution third-party connectivity between John Deere’s equipment and the Climate FieldView platform.”

“This strategic acquisition expands the John Deere precision agriculture business and accelerates our momentum as a market leader,” said John May, president of Deere’s agricultural solutions department and chief information officer.

“Strategic use of information is an important factor in successful agriculture. Today’s actions demonstrate John Deere’s ongoing investments to enhance the product and service solutions we offer our customers.”

Deere is purchasing Precision Planting, while Climate Corp. will retain the digital agriculture portfolio that has been integrated into the current Climate FieldView platform. The purchase is subject to customary closing conditions, including the approval of the relevant antitrust authorities to the extent required.

The purchase also represents the second sale of Precision Planting’s assets in the past three years; the small, independent Tremont, Ill., farm technology company was first bought by Monsanto in 2012 for up to $250 million. That came nearly 20 years after central Illinois farmers Gregg and Cindy Sauder, who had a talent for developing planter add-ons that achieved precision depth control for seed delivery, founded Precision Planting at the urging of friends and farming neighbors.

This month’s transaction was the second major acquisition made by Deere within a week. The Moline, Ill.-based Deere had earlier signed an agreement to purchase Monosem, a European precision planting manufacturer with six facilities in the United States and France. The purchases are part of Deere’s goal to expand its precision agriculture business and broaden the range of retrofit options for customers.

Central Illinois farmers such as Steve Pitstick are hopeful a big company like Deere will be expedient in bringing new Precision Planting technologies though the manufacturing pipeline and into the hands of producers. In addition, Pitstick told Farm World he hopes for a seamless and simple data transfer process, as promised by Deere representatives he has spoken with in recent weeks.

Deere anticipates the transaction to be finalized by first-quarter 2016, according to news sources. Attempts by Farm World to seek comment from either company were not returned by press time.