CropLogic Secures New Licence for Global Growth

CropLogic Secures New Licence for Global Growth

Christchurch, 2 June 2016 - Precision agriculture firm CropLogic has signed an exclusive agreement with the New Zealand Institute of Plant & Food Research to expand the marketing of its patented technology to corn, wheat, soybean and cotton farmers in the United States.

The technology — developed over 30 years out of Plant & Food Research, a New Zealand Crown Research Institute, and guided and shaped for international markets by IP investor Powerhouse Ventures — enables growers using the firm’s predictive modelling systems to pinpoint the best times to apply nutrients and to conserve precious water for maximum plant yields.

Under an earlier agreement relating to potatoes, CropLogic has successfully created a predictive decision support system that has attracted some of the world’s top potato growers and processors in the most demanding regions in the world. Initial trials of the technology in the US, NZ, China, and Australia have indicated yield improvements of over 6% and substantial improvements in crop profitability. For a top-tier Idaho potato farmer that can amount to a 90% profit improvement.

Jamie Cairns, CropLogic’s CEO, said: “We selected the US and potatoes, America’s fifth largest crop, as a first target because of the market size, consolidation, the demanding nature of that market, knowledgeable growers, and highly educated workforce in our target regions. With half its acreage in Washington and Idaho, the industry farms 1.17 million acres of irrigated land and produces over 20 million tonnes of potatoes annually.

“CropLogic’s aim is to become the leading provider of end-to-end agronomy services to global crop-growers – in the US we’re actively finalising an opportunity to acquire a local agronomy services firm that will deliver us a significant footprint of potatoes under management, revenues, and staff to realise the growth potential we see there,” Mr Cairns said.

“Our New Zealand-developed predictive technology offers farmers a proven decision support system to achieve more sustainable farming practices by improving yields, significantly increasing efficiencies and boosting profits. We are excited by this opportunity, which we see giving us access to big acreages in a key market where even the highest producing farms have yield variations of 15% depending on crop management,” he added.

The CropLogic service is provided to farmers under a seasonal per-acre subscription. Across all crops, CropLogic is targeting 2 million acres in America under its management over the next ten years and recurring income of $98M in that region.

CropLogic gathers field data via low-powered wireless networks and satellite systems which are processed through its proprietary technology to give the farmer daily optimal prescriptions for applying water and nitrogen together with a rolling yield prediction.

Further information in relation to rollout of decision support services in other geographic regions where trials have already been undertaken will be announced in due course.

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