The Climate Corporation

The Climate Corporation is a digital agriculture company that examines weather, soil and field data to help farmers determine potential yield-limiting factors in their fields.[1]

The Climate Corporation
IndustryAgriculture
Fatesubsidiary of Bayer
Founded2006 (2006)
Headquarters
San Francisco, CA
,
USA
Key people
  • Mike Stern: CEO
Websiteclimate.com

History

The company was founded as WeatherBill in 2006 by two former Google employees, David Friedberg and Siraj Khaliq.

The company began as a startup focused on helping people and businesses manage and adapt to climate change, by providing weather insurance to ski resorts, large event venues, and farmers. In 2010 it decided to focus exclusively on agriculture, and launched the Total Weather Insurance Product in fall 2010 for corn and soybeans.[2][3]

On October 11, 2011, WeatherBill changed its name to The Climate Corporation.[4]

In June 2013 the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Risk Management Agency authorized the Climate Corporation to administer federal crop insurance policies for the 2014 crop year.[5]

In October, 2013 Monsanto announced that it was acquiring the company for approximately $1.1 billion.[6]

In November 2013 the company launched Climate Basic and Climate Pro, a set of advisory tools for farmers utilizing data science to help farmers make optimal decisions.[7]

In February 2014 the company announced it merged with Monsanto’s Integrated Farming System and Precision Planting divisions.[8] In February 2014 the company also acquired Solum, a soil-testing company based in Ames, Iowa.[9]

In December 2014 the company acquired 640 Labs, an agricultural technology startup based in Chicago.[10]

In July 2015 the company sold its crop insurance business to AmTrust Financial Services, enabling The Climate Corporation to focus exclusively on its digital agriculture platform. Details of the agreement were not disclosed.[11]

In September 2015 the company re-branded its Climate Basic and Climate Pro products as Climate FieldView.[12]

In November 2015 the company signed a definitive agreement with John Deere to acquire Precision Planting LLC.[13]

In March 2016, the company announced data connectivity agreements with several agronomic retailers and retailer software systems through the use of APIs.[14]

In May 2017 the agreement to sell Precision Planting LLC to John Deere was terminated. In August 2016 the U.S. Department of Justice had filed a lawsuit to block the sale, arguing the deal could make it more expensive for farmers to use fast, precise planting technology. Precision Planting CEO Michael Stern stated: "We just didn't see that there was a clear path going forward, that the DOJ was going to approve the transaction. We have a valuable business and people in limbo and it was just time to move on."[15]

Products

Formerly Climate Basic and Climate Pro, the Climate Corporation re-branded its product to Climate FieldView, making the announcement at the 2015 Farm Progress Show. The Climate FieldView Platform uses data science based on historical crop, field and weather data to provide farmers insights and data of their fields.

Nitrogen Advisor provides farmers a look into nitrogen levels in soil based on historical weather data helping them to determine when to make applications. Field Health Advisor provides farmers satellite images of their fields depicting crop health and vegetation maps. Script Creator allows farmers to create variable-rate prescriptions before planting.

Climate FieldView Drive is a Bluetooth enabled device that plugs into a tractor or combine and reads machine data during planting and harvest. The data is displayed in real-time to the Climate FieldView Cab app.

Climate FieldView Prime includes weather and scouting. It allows farmers to see a weather forecast up to three hours in advance and the ability to scout potential issues in the field. Farmers can drop a pin on that location on the map to scout the precise location throughout the season.

Further reading
  • “WeatherBill morphs brand to focus on climate”, “Gigaom.com”, October 10, 2011
  • “Insuring against extreme weather”, msnbc.msn.com, October 10, 2011
  • “Fill the Gap”, “AgWeb.com”, November 16, 2011
  • “Climate Corporation offers precise weather insurance coverage”, “FarmIndustryNews.com”, November 3, 2011
  • "Company offers farmers chance to minimize weather risk". AgriNews-Pubs.com. November 14, 2011. Archived from the original on 2012-04-24.
  • “Weather Insurance Reinvented: Coverage Fills Cracks in Crop Insurance”, “DTNProgressiveFarmer.com”, November 2, 2011
  • “Data Powers New Insurance Product”, “FarmFutures.com”, November 1, 2011
  • Specter, Michael. "Why the Climate Corporation Sold Itself to Monsanto", "The New Yorker", November 3, 2013
  • Specter, Michael. “Climate by Numbers: Can a tech firm help farmers survive global warming?”, “The New Yorker”, November 11, 2013, pp. 38–43
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References
  1. "Climate Corp". The Climate Corporation”.
  2. Deleon, Nicholas (2007-10-17). "Weather Derivatives Provider WeatherBill Takes $12.5 Million More". Tech Crunch. Retrieved 2014-10-14.
  3. Deleon, Staff (2010-11-16). "Full-season weather insurance for agriculture launches". Western Farm Press. Retrieved 2014-10-14.
  4. McMahon, Karen (2011-10-12). "WeatherBill changes name to The Climate Corporation". Farm Industry News. Retrieved 2014-10-14.
  5. Staff (2013-06-28). "The Climate Corporation Approved to Provide Federal Crop Insurance for the 2014 Crop Year". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2014-10-14.
  6. Tsotsis, Alexia (October 2, 2013). "Monsanto Buys Weather Big Data Company Climate Corporation For Around $1.1". TechCrunch. United States.
  7. Staff (2013-11-11). "The Climate Corp. Launches Climate Basic, Climate Pro For 2014". PrecisionAg.com. Retrieved 2014-10-14.
  8. The Climate Corporation (2014-01-21). "The Climate Corporation Begins Unified Offering For Growers". The Climate Corporation. Retrieved 2014-10-14.
  9. The Climate Corporation (2014-02-20). "The Climate Corporation Announces Acquisition of Soil Analysis Business Line of Solum, Inc". Monsanto. Retrieved 2014-10-14.
  10. Meg Graham (2014-12-09). "640 Labs farm-data startup acquired by Climate Corp". The Chicago Tribune.
  11. Jacob Kirn (2015-08-03). "Monsanto's Climate Corp. sells insurance business". St. Louis Business Journal.
  12. "The Climate Corporation Transforms Data Into Value With New Climate Fieldview™ Integrated Digital Ag Platform". 2015-09-02.
  13. Laurie Bedord (2015-11-03). "JOHN DEERE TO ACQUIRE PRECISION PLANTING; CLIMATE CORP. TO CONNECT TO DEERE EQUIPMENT". Successful Farming.
  14. "The Climate Corporation Announces Multiple Data Connectivity Agreements, Making the Climate FieldView™ Platform the Most Broadly Connected in the Industry". Monsanto Company. 2016-03-04.
  15. "Monsanto scraps deal to sell Precision Planting to Deere". Reuters. May 1, 2017. Retrieved 2017-06-21.
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