In 13 months, all three crop protection label databases have been acquired by ag software and tech companies.
1. In January 2020, Agworld acquired the Greenbook property, which includes a database of more than 10,000 chemical product labels, from Farm Journal.
At the time of the transaction, Agworld CEO Doug Fitch commented, “It is no secret that Agworld has seen very rapid growth in 2019 due to a vast increase in demand from growers and their service providers to utilize their ag data on an independent platform that offers the functionality they need. 2020 ushers in a new phase of Agworld’s journey; we have transitioned from a startup to a recognized and established agribusiness, and strategic acquisitions will form part of our strategy moving forward—whenever they make sense for us and our clients. The ag tech landscape is rapidly changing due to large agribusinesses buying ag tech providers; we are bucking the trend by acquiring a business instead of being acquired. This in itself is a true testimony to how the market perceives Agworld and the direction we are headed as an organization.”
2. In November 2020, with an eye toward industry digitization, Canadian telecom company Telus launched Telus Agriculture after it acquired seven ag companies. Among those seven acquisitions was Agrian and its management platform for precision, agronomy, sustainability, analytics and compliance.
The Agrian database is free to use, and it features more than 12,000 manufacturer-checked and indemnified labels.
3. In February 2021, Proagrica announced its acquisition of CDMS, which has maintained a database of manufacturer-approved label data on more than 7,000 products supplied by hundreds of manufacturers.
“There’s a lot of talk about sustainability and traceability, but that can’t be done easily unless you have standards in the way the data is collected and moved in the industry,” says Matt Waits, president of Proagrica, ag solutions division. “At its heart, Proagrica is a data business. CDMS is a data business.”
Waits adds that SST Software worked for more than 20 years on standardizing tools for agronomists and has continued to do so since being acquired by Proagrica in 2018.
“We are really trying to do as much as we can to integrate and connect systems, so ag retail can pull together agronomic and business data. We can build the capabilities to bring CDMS data into our Sirrus offering and have a strong solution for agronomists in every market,” he says.
Although most compliance efforts are focused on specialty markets today, Waits says it will be important to have tools ready to deploy as the shift toward commodity markets is on the horizon.
“Even if compliance isn’t from the government, we are trending toward more and more compliance from consumers as well. They are seeking more information and assurance on what has been sprayed on their food,” he says.
