In an effort to offer growers more complete precision farming guidance and application packages, more precision ag companies are forming alliances, as reported in a recent issue of Farm Industry News magazine.

A review of recent partnership/purchase announcements highlights the trend. Ag Leader and AutoFarm; Raven Industries, SST Software, Ranchview, and Buhler Industries/Versatile; and Hemisphere GPS and Third Eye Maps all revealed new alliances in the final months of 2009.

Within the past few years, the alliance list has become a virtual who’s who of precision agriculture: AGCO/Topcon/KEE Technologies; Trimble/Dickey-john/Rawson/Tru Count/GreenSeeker/Farm Works; Leica/Rinex/TeeJet; Ag Leader/Holland Scientific/Kinze/Norac; and Raven/AutoFarm. Both Trimble and Ag Leader also have long-term technology partnerships with Case New Holland (CNH). Of the major precision ag providers, John Deere stands alone, although it announced in 2009 that it would begin offering certain Raven application control technologies through its dealerships.

To learn more about why companies are cutting deals, as well as future prospects, read the story.