The Climate Corporation, a division of Monsanto Company, recently announced at Farm Progress Show the launch of its newly integrated platform - bringing existing product offerings into one seamless platform and launching new solutions to turn farm data into real value for farmers. Climate’s existing suite of digital tools will become the Climate FieldView™ digital platform, and the company will launch new functionality over the course of the next few weeks for the 2016 season to further support data-driven decision making on the farm.
“For farmers, time and knowledge are the most valuable inputs,” said Mike Stern, President and Chief Operating Officer for The Climate Corporation. “The new Climate FieldView digital platform combines farmers’ field data with real-time and historic soil, crop and weather data to help them efficiently manage their operations and gain deeper insights about their fields,” said Stern.
This season, the Climate FieldView platform builds on its digital agriculture foundation with an integrated platform and a new option for seamlessly connecting field data to the cloud. The platform includes three tiered product offerings:
1.
Climate FieldView Prime™, formerly Climate Basic™, supports timely decision making, with field-level weather, scouting tools and notifications.
2.
Climate FieldView Plus™, formerly FieldView® Plus from Precision Planting, provides seamless field data connectivity and visualization in the cab and on demand.
3.
Climate FieldView Pro™, formerly Climate Pro™, is the premium offering that provides field-level agronomic insights driven by data science.
The Nitrogen Advisor and Field Health Advisor in Climate Pro last year received great reviews from farmers. Paul Spratt farms with his father and brother in McLean County, Ill. and has used Pro for the past two growing seasons. “Climate FieldView Pro has proven to be an excellent tool for our operation, especially given the very wet season we’ve experienced in Illinois,” said Spratt. “With the heavy rains, we knew our crop needed additional nitrogen to survive. When we went to make our side-dress application, the Nitrogen Advisor indicated a shortfall, and we found that insight to be spot on and made an additional application.” Spratt added, “The maps provided through the Field Health Advisor helped us quickly identify drowned out areas of our fields.”
New Functionality in 2016
In addition to launching an integrated platform for the 2016 season, The Climate Corporation is providing new features to help farmers optimize resources and maximize yield.
Climate FieldView Plus is enabled by the new Climate FieldView Drive™, a device that helps farmers easily transfer their data from the field to the cloud. “Climate FieldView Drive is an exciting new technology that represents an important advancement in digital agriculture,” said Stern. “For years, farmers have collected and stored their field data in different formats and haven’t been able to use that data to inform important operating decisions. The Climate FieldView Drive is a significant first step in helping farmers unleash the potential of their field data.”
While Climate FieldView Drive is planned for limited release and is compatible only with certain equipment types this year, the company expects to expand the device’s compatibility in coming seasons, in addition to pursuing other methods for seamless field data flow.
In 2016, Climate FieldView Pro will be available to more farmers across an expanded geography, provide easier data entry for farmers, and will include a new Script Creator feature to help farmers create variable rate seeding prescriptions and execute them on their equipment of choice. “We’ll definitely be using Climate’s digital ag platform next season, and I’m really excited about some of the new features, especially the Script Creator,” Spratt said.
Pricing and Promotions
In 2015, The Climate Corporation’s digital platform was used by farmers across 75 million acres, and their premium offering on more than five million of those acres. For the 2016 season, Climate Pro is being offered for three dollars an acre, and the company is offering special pricing to encourage farmers to experience the value of digital agriculture firsthand.
First-time users of Climate FieldView Pro, can get their first 120 acres free. Farmers can also use the service across their whole operation for as little as $999 for farms up to 2,500 acres. Larger farms can enroll in the service at additional price points.
To give more farmers the opportunity to experience Climate FieldView Plus and Climate FieldView Drive this year, the company is offering a starter package that includes the annual software subscription, a Climate FieldView Drive device, and an iPad® mounting kit for the cab for only $499.
Climate FieldView Prime is free and available across most crop-growing regions in the U.S.
To take advantage of Climate FieldView offers, farmers can contact a certified Climate FieldView dealer, or call Climate’s support line at 1.888.924.7475 to be connected with a local dealer.