Hi, Dave Kinnickie here with the Farm Equipment Editor's blog for June 26, 2012. When Monsanto announced on May 23, it was acquiring precision planting, a developer and marketer of seed meters, monitoring and precision farming technologies, the news created a bit of a ripple in the farm equipment world. Monsanto, which is the 800 pound gorilla in the field of advanced seed genetics, said it would be an important step in growing its IFS, integrated farming system platform. When it completed the acquisition last week, Monsanto said its IFS unit will utilize advanced agronomic practices, seed genetics, and innovative on-farm technology to deliver optimal yield to farmers while using fewer resources. Michael Pickin, analyst for Cleveland Research Company, told Farm Equipment via email that he had spoken with Monsanto shortly after the acquisition. Monsanto believes it can create an increase of five to ten bushels per acre of incremental value to the farmer by improving its agronomic practices, says Pickin. They also believe that they can do a better job than an independent crop consultant, because they know the genetics in each individual area better than anyone else says Pickin. Pickins added, the major concern I've heard from some growers is that they're nervous about sharing their yield data with Monsanto, or any seed company for that matter. Alan Grover, who's column the farm and food file, which appears in the 70 newspapers in the US and Canada, followed up on this thought with the question, what will this information be worth to Monsanto? According to Grover, the acquisition of precision planning means that at any point in the growing and harvesting seasons, Monsanto likely will know the dates, times, acreage, soil types, weather, seating rates, yield moisture content, and just about every hard number connected to any field that uses its precision technology. And that information won't be limited to fields planted only to Monsanto branded seed. It will be for any field planted with any seed that uses precision technology. Grover goes on to say, imagine some math wizard somewhere creating an illogorythom that taps the trove of information to extrapolate planted acreages before say the big USDA acreage report each June or get an angle on crop production before the big crop report each August. What would that insight be worth to say archer Daniels Midland or Cargill? If the reported price Monsanto paid for precision planning, 200 million plus is correct. Monsanto acquired a golden goose for chicken feeds at Grover. As Pickin said in his note to us, it should be interesting to see how this platform grows. By the way, Alan Grover's website is www.FarmInFoodFile.com. Thanks for checking in and we'll talk to you next time.