Topcon Positioning Group (TPG), manufacturer of precise positioning products and solutions, announced the creation of the Topcon Agriculture Group. The newly launched unit will be used by the company to integrate and connect its precision agriculture activities into one platform to better serve its aftermarket and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) customers.
In conjunction with the launch, the California-based company announced that the global headquarters for its Agriculture Group will be in Turin, Italy, with a regional North American headquarters in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin.
“Our telematics division — Tierra Telematics Design — has been located in Turin since 2008 and has had great success in both the construction and agricultural markets, particularly with important OEM clients,” said Ivan Di Federico, TPG Chief Strategy Officer and chairman of Topcon Agriculture in a company statement.
Precision farming has been noted as a key element in achieving food security in a sustainable manner while also conserving our natural resources, according to a July 2015 report, Precision Agriculture: An Opportunity for EU Farmers – Potential Support with the CAP 2014-2020, issued by the Joint Research Center of the European Commission.
“On farms, we are entering the era of ‘precision agriculture,” European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Phil Hogan, told EurActiv. “…harnessing the use of technology and data to enable farmers to do their work more smartly, and more efficiently.”
Topcon has built up its precision agriculture portfolio with the recent acquisitions of Wachendorff Elektronik, Digi-Star, RDS Technology and NORAC – each of which brings a different technical expertise to the Topcon portfolio.
~ Wachendorff Elecktronik is located in Geisenheim, Germany, and is a leading global manufacturer of in-cab displays, and has been earmarked to become the primary manufacturing location for the Agriculture Group.
~ Digi-Star serves as a regional headquarters for Topcon and provides weighing, feed, and farm management solutions, as well as sales and support for Topcon’s distributors and OEM partners.
~ NORAC Systems provides the group with state-of-the-art boom height control systems.
~ RDS supplies core technologies and solutions to global OEM customers.
“This new business model greatly broadens the scope of our investment in the global agricultural markets,” noted Ray O’Connor, president and CEO of TPG. “It will re-center our operational structure to make a strong push into the growing European aftermarket and OEM business, while further developing our investment in the agricultural heartland of North America. It will create new efficiencies in R&D, engineering and manufacturing, while streamlining our abilities to continue to grow our other core businesses.”
This duel point of entry in both the EU and U.S. precision agriculture markets could prove to be well played by Topcon.
The European Commission is promoting precision farming technologies through its €78 billion Horizon 2020 research program, and through the Common Agricultural Policy for 2014-2020 the EU is providing financial incentives and the framework to support farmers in adopting precision technologies and techniques. Although adoption rates vary depending upon the differing costs of implementation, some technologies such as Global Satellite Navigation Systems (GNSS) have proven to be rapidly embraced by European farmers according to Euractiv. For instance, adoption of GNSS in the Netherlands has reached 65% of all arable farmers compared to 15% in 2007.
However, Ulrich Adam, secretary general of the European Agricultural Machinery Industry Association (CEMA) points out to Euractiv “…due to their larger field size, the US has often been an easier entry point for certain Precision Farming technologies coming to the market.”
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Lynda Kiernan