As of early April there’s a new name on the precision farming landscape: PTx. It includes a joint Agco-Trimble venture that will take over Trimble’s existing agricultural products line as well as Agco’s JCA Technologies business under the newly-coined PTx Trimble brand.
Agco has acquired an 85 per cent share in the j.v., while Trimble retains a 15 per cent interest. Also falling under the PTx brand will be Agco’s JCA Technologies and Precision Planting businesses. The new company will become a key part of Agco’s product portfolio.
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“PTx now makes its way as one of Agco’s five core brands,” PTx Trimble general manager Andrew Sunderman says. “PTx is our technology portion of the business, which consists of two go-to-market brands: PTx Trimble, which is our joint venture between Agco and Trimble, as well as our second go-to-market brand, Precision Planting.”
Any new digital products developed by Agco going forward will also become part of the PTx portfolio.
“We thought it was important to have a strong identity in the market for this new company that solidifies our focus on precision agriculture, cutting edge technologies,” he added. “And that ‘x’ (in the name) signifies the multiplication effect of bringing these two companies together.”
PTx Trimble products will continue to be sold and supported through Trimble’s existing network of dealers — but qualified Fendt, Massey Ferguson and Valtra dealers will have the opportunity to begin to sell them as well. The company will start to bring those dealers onboard as PTx retailers, in much the same way it added Fendt to Agco’s equipment line.
“It’s 100 per cent a very similar approach,” Sunderman says. “Where there are capable Fendt, Massey Ferguson, Valtra and Precision Planting dealers around the world that do not overlap with our existing PTx Trimble dealers, we’ll be working with those that are interested and capable to bring them on as PTx Trimble dealers to sell and support PTx Trimble products.”
Agco’s own in-house digital systems that have so far been offered from the factory in Fendt and Massey Ferguson equipment will continue to be offered for the foreseeable future — but expect the PTx Trimble system to be gradually integrated into Agco equipment as an OEM feature.
“As we go forward, our teams are looking at how do we take the best of both of these, bringing them together, and have a solution that allows our customers to connect their in-cab experience with their back-office solutions,” Sunderman says.
Aside from the fact that products in the PTx portfolio are already being used as original equipment by dozens of OEMs, a key feature of PTx Trimble systems will be they can be installed on any brand of machine, including older equipment. That will allow farms with multi-coloured fleets to integrate all of their machine operations seamlessly into one network.
“That allows customers to connect their machines of any make and any vintage into one common off-board platform,” he adds.
“I think in order to be the trusted partner in the industry, you need to be able to serve all farmers. In doing so we take an approach that allows our technology products (to) work for any brand, and going back many years often times. So customers don’t have to trade out their piece of equipment or buy new just to get the latest in technology.”
That said, technology is “becoming a large part of customer buying decisions,” Sunderman says. “At PTx Trimble our vision is to be the industry leader for mixed fleet smart farming and autonomy solutions, really working to serve all farmers with all makes and all vintages specifically with precision ag technologies and really leading in autonomous solutions.”
