Monsanto Company subsidiary backs out of a deal to sell its Precision Planting subsidiary to John Deere

PLATTSBURG, Mo. (DTN) -- The Climate Corporation, a Monsanto Company subsidiary, has backed out of a deal to sell its Precision Planting subsidiary to John Deere. The tentative deal announced in November 2015 is dead. "We are deeply disappointed in this outcome as we remain confident the acquisition would have benefited customers," said John May, John Deere President, Agricultural Solutions and Chief Information Officer. The deal has been in rough waters since August 2016 when the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit to stop it, alleging that the sale would give Deere a monopoly on "high speed planting technology." Deere introduced its ExactEmerge planting technology for high-speed planting in 2014 at about the same time Precision Planting's SpeedTube hit the market. Both systems use a conveyor belt -- instead of a traditional gravity drop tube -- to place seed in the furrow at up to 10 mph. That is about twice as fast as most other methods, and DOJ alleged that Deere owning both technologies would leave high-speed planter customers no other purchase options. In an apparent move to mitigate DOJ's monopoly case, Deere last October announced a licensing agreement that would allow Ag Leader Technology access to SpeedTube engineering. That agreement also is now void, May said. Meanwhile, other manufacturers, including Case IH and AGCO, already have incorporated SpeedTube technology into their planter lineups. They will continue to do so, despite the deal's demise. The DOJ had a different take on the news: "The companies' decision to abandon this transaction is a victory for American farmers and consumers," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Andrew Finch of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division.