DuPont Buys Granular Ag Software Company
Today DuPont announced it will buy Granular Inc. software company for $300 million. This agreement will solidify the company’s investment in the ag tech space and is expected to close at the end of the third quarter.
The acquisition gives DuPont ownership of Granular’s Farm Management Software and AcreValue.com that together serve 250 farms on two million acres in the U.S. as well as farms in Canada and Australia.
“Granular provides software management that helps farms on the business side of their operation,” says Sid Gorham, co-founder and CEO of Granular in and exclusive interview with Farm Journal Media. “We recognized how complimentary our software is with Encirca.”
Encirca, DuPont Pioneer's ag technology platform, focuses on providing farmers with agronomic insights as they make decisions. DuPont currently plans to keep the Granular offerings separate from Encirca’s, but allow for smooth information transfer to help combine agronomic and financial information as farmers make operational decisions.
“Take an example like when Encirca advises farmers to apply less nitrogen. That makes some guys uncomfortable because they want to maximize yields,” says John Chrosniak, DuPont Pioneer director of strategic services and planning. “With Granular and Encirca they can see evidence that variable rate nitrogen [which could mean less nitrogen overall] could make more money than applying at the standard rate.”
Granular’s current CEO and founder Sid Gorham will lead digital agriculture at DuPont, including Encirca. Granular will keep its offices in San Francisco and Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. DuPont will also leverage Granular’s existing partnerships with other agricultural companies.
This acquisition comes as DuPont nears the close of a historic merger with Dow. Chrosniak says they took the larger merger into heavy consideration before closing this deal with Granular and is confident it will not affect the Aug. 31 close with Dow.
