The Climate Corp., a subsidiary of Monsanto Co., and Koch Agronomic Services LLC jointly announced March 21 a research agreement that marks a significant step forward in applying data-driven digital tools to support more efficient nutrient management practices for farmers.

Koch Agronomic Services, which produces and markets a proven and expanding global portfolio of plant performance technologies, including AGROTAIN nitrogen stabilizer and SUPERU fertilizer, has agreed to provide Climate Corp. with product research data to use in developing the data science models that power the company’s industry-leading Climate FieldView digital agriculture platform. These advanced models feed Climate Corp.’s nitrogen monitoring tools that help farmers build customized management plans for each field to optimize their inputs and maximize productivity.

With the addition of Koch Agronomic Services’ product data, farmers will be able to select the Koch Agronomic Services’ product they applied in each field in their Climate FieldView account, along with the type of nitrogen fertilizer applied, making Climate Corp.’s nitrogen insights even more personalized.

“Farmers are always working to better manage their agricultural inputs, and this agreement reinforces both The Climate Corp. and Koch Agronomic Services’ commitment to enhanced nitrogen efficiency,” said Mike Stern, Climate Corp. chief executive officer. “Climate’s data science models ingest millions of data points from multiple sources to help farmers track the level of available nitrogen for a field and to generate customized management zones within the field throughout the growing season. Through this agreement, we can build even more robust models to deliver greater value to farmers as they work to manage this important crop nutrient more efficiently.”

Climate Corp. announced in August 2016 that it would extend its platform to enable other agricultural innovators to build upon and complement Climate Corp.’s digital tools with additional data layers. Through this new agreement with Koch Agronomic Services, farmers can experience even greater value from the Climate FieldView platform.

“Our goal is to help farmers achieve their production, profitability and environmental goals, and we believe this data sharing agreement provides an additional tool to increase efficiency in agricultural practices,” said Chase Koch, president of Koch Agronomic Services. “We know each field has different nitrogen needs, and we believe adding data on our scientifically proven, enhanced efficiency fertilizer products into the Climate FieldView platform will deliver deeper insights to farmers to help them manage crop fertility.”

Officially launched in 2015, the Climate FieldView platform is used on more than 100 million acres across the U.S., Canada and Brazil, with more than 100,000 U.S. farmers engaging in Climate Corp.'s digital tools. Backed by a powerful data science engine and extensive field research network, the Climate FieldView platform delivers customized insights that help farmers make data-driven decisions with confidence to maximize yield potential, improve efficiency and manage risk. In January 2017, Climate Corp. unveiled its robust digital agriculture research and development pipeline to continue providing farmers with new digital technologies that help them better understand field variability and customize their agronomic practices to get the most out of every acre.

Koch Agronomic Services' product selection within a farmer’s Climate FieldView account is expected for the 2018 growing season. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.