Deere, DN2K form joint venture

Deere & Company and DN2K have agreed to form SageInsights - a joint venture to initially serve the agriculture industry with further development of DN2K's existing cloud software platform, MyAgCentral, for agricultural retailers and others who provide consulting services to growers.

"Through this initiative, John Deere expands its products and services for precision agriculture," said John May, President, Agricultural Solutions and Chief Information Officer at Deere. "DN2K is uniquely positioned to help advisers and consultants use information from multiple sources to better serve growers."

DN2K, Greenwood Village, Colorado, developed the MyAgCentral platform to help agriculture advisers collect, organize, and analyze machine-to-machine information and use it along with insights from other resources to help improve decision-making. Deere & Company is the world's largest manufacturer of agricultural equipment and a leader in precision agriculture.

"The agriculture industry has significant opportunities to increase productivity by understanding and leveraging the operational intelligence that is already available," said Susan Lambert, President and CEO of DN2K. "Creating SageInsights allows us to serve a broader range of the agricultural community."

The two companies will integrate DN2K's MyAgCentral with the John Deere Operations Center utilizing the available Deere API. This connection will make the data management tools of both platforms available to producers and their trusted advisers and enhance their capability to make business decisions with expanded knowledge of crucial information.

"John Deere customers are faced with the challenge of feeding an increasing world population," said May. "This joint venture aligns with our efforts to connect people, equipment, technology and insights to help farmers meet that challenge." The creation of SageInsights, he added, allows for a nimble response to market needs and a continuation of DN2K's innovative spirit in developing customer solutions.

In the future, SageInsights could also explore applications in the construction equipment industry while the DN2K parent company will explore potential platform opportunities in other industries such as energy, oil and gas, and healthcare. Deere is a majority owner of the joint venture. Other details of the transaction are not being made public.