Tractor, harvester IT comes of age
Over the last halfdecade, digital technology has appeared to be the “must-have” for tractor and machinery companies, who believe that bringing IT to tractors and farming will offer its customers huge benefits.
The deal said to be worth $2.1 billion, with projected annual earnings by the new subsidiary of €400 million by 2025.
Besides agricultural technology – the key driver for the CNHI acquisition – Raven also operates in the polymer film engineering sector, delivering waterproof membranes and liners for construction and agriculture. It also manufactures lighter-than-air platforms such as weather balloons. The latter might give a hint towards CNHI’s plans, with the increasing importance of aerial imagery coming to the forefront in the crop management sector.
Within the agricultural sector, Raven is well known, particularly in North America and Europe, for providing field computers, steering, guidance and height control products. It also produces flow control valves for directing chemical injection into sprayer lines, as an alternative to the more traditional method of relying on pre-prepared tank mixes.
Raven is also well established within the autonomous guidance sector with its ‘OMNiDRIVE’ and ‘OMNiPOWER’ products.
The former replaces the driver in a conventional tractor – making it suitable, according to Raven, for applications like calling up chaser bins to unload combine harvesters, before taking the load back to a predetermined parking area.
OMNiPOWER takes the form of a robot, without the need for an operator. It is described by the company as “a self-propelled power platform that can accept a range of implements like sprayers or spreaders, allowing it to perform multiple tasks during the farming seasons”.
Meanwhile, the deal will require regulatory approval before it is completed, with finalisation expected by the year end.
