Climate FieldView
From AltData.wiki, The Alternative Data Encyclopedia
Climate FieldView is a digital agriculture platform operated by Climate LLC, a subsidiary of Bayer, that collects, visualizes, and analyzes field data for farmers[1]. The platform gathers crop data from equipment, supports field scouting, builds seeding and fertility prescriptions, and enables real-time yield data analysis[1].
The underlying company was founded in 2006 as WeatherBill by former Google employees David Friedberg and Siraj Khaliq, renamed The Climate Corporation in 2011, and acquired by Monsanto in 2013 for approximately 1.1 billion dollars before passing to Bayer with its 2018 acquisition of Monsanto[2]. FieldView is marketed across the United States, Canada, Latin America, much of Europe, South Africa, and Australia[1].
What It Does
Climate FieldView is positioned as an all-in-one digital farming solution organized around four solution areas: gathering information (collecting, connecting, and sharing crop data), scouting fields remotely, building prescriptions to maximize yield, and analyzing data including real-time yield monitoring[1].
The company states that farmers own their data and control access to it, and highlights real-time alerts, faster scripting, and instant field data as core benefits[1].
Data And Methodology
Field data is captured through the FieldView Drive hardware, a device that reads data from a tractor's CANBUS and streams it to an iPad or iPhone; the device originated at Chicago startup 640 Labs, which The Climate Corporation acquired in December 2014[1][2]. The current FieldView Drive 2.0 adds built-in GPS, seed script delivery without a thumb drive, faster syncing, and wider equipment compatibility[1].
Adapter kits connect the system with CNH and John Deere GreenStar displays, and the company claims compatibility with most equipment types[1].
Products
The product line comprises the FieldView software subscription with tiered pricing, the FieldView Drive 2.0 and its starter kit, mounting hardware, and display adapter kits[1].
The platform advertises connectivity with more than 60 partners for data sharing[1]. The company also cites an internal analysis in which farmers using FieldView seed scripts saw an average increase of 5 bushels per acre compared with users who wrote their own scripts[1]; this claim is vendor-reported.
Buyers And Use Cases
Customers are row-crop and other farmers; the company's marketing features US growers such as the Horton brothers of Kansas, Illinois corn and soybean farmer Scott Friestad, and the Roberts family of Illinois, who use the platform for field trials and data management[1].
History
WeatherBill began in 2006 selling weather insurance to ski resorts, event venues, and farmers, then focused exclusively on agriculture in 2010 with a Total Weather Insurance product for corn and soybeans[2]. It was renamed The Climate Corporation in October 2011[2].
In 2013 the company was authorized by the USDA's Risk Management Agency to administer federal crop insurance policies, and in October 2013 Monsanto acquired it for around 1.1 billion dollars[2]. It subsequently merged with Monsanto's Integrated Farming Systems and Precision Planting divisions, acquired soil testing firm Solum, and bought 640 Labs[2].
The crop insurance business was sold to AmTrust Financial Services in 2015, and a 2017 agreement to sell Precision Planting to John Deere was terminated after a US Department of Justice lawsuit[2]. Bayer acquired Monsanto, and with it Climate and Precision Planting, in June 2018[2].