Syngenta announced that it has completed the acquisition of all relevant assets of The Cropio Group, an agricultural technology company with a presence in more than 50 countries but with a primary focus in Eastern Europe. The Cropio platform is an equipment-integrated, end-to-end software solution that provides imaging, recordkeeping and equipment tracking. Approximately 10 million hectares (24.71 million acres) of crops are currently managed using Cropio.

The Cropio Group sought a partner with strong agri-science expertise to complement and enhance its leading technology platform. With a proven track record of successful partnerships in the digital agriculture space, Syngenta was seen as an ideal partner to help deliver additional value to Cropio’s grower customers, according to the announcement.

“This acquisition marks a turning point in Syngenta’s digital strategy for agriculture,” said Greg Meyers, chief information and digital officer for Syngenta. “Cropio is a leading player in the Eastern European digital agriculture market, and Syngenta is gaining a hub for ag tech innovation in Europe that will help increase farmer sustainability, productivity, efficiency and profitability. We anticipate significant opportunities for collaboration across the other Syngenta digital assets.”

Dan Burdett, head of global digital agriculture for Syngenta, said, “Cropio has done a really impressive job of building a product portfolio that brings tremendous value to growers. They have focused on the breadth of grower processes, while enabling data flow across field equipment and multiple digital tools. Cropio’s platform allows the farmer to monitor all their crops and field operations in order to maximize decision-making.”

With this acquisition, Syngenta will be the only agricultural company to have access to leading management platforms in the top four agricultural markets: with Land.db in the U.S., with Strider in Brazil, with the Modern Agricultural Platform in China and now with Cropio in Eastern Europe. Combined, more than 40 million hectares (98.84 million acres) globally will be managed using a Syngenta digital tool, and the company plans to double that by the end of 2020. 

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.