Trimble Acquires Bilberry and Expands Sustainable Farming Portfolio

During the month of September Trimbleannounced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the French technology company, Bilberry, specializing in selective spraying systems for sustainable agriculture.

Farmers have recently faced a number of challenges, including rising production costs, increasing weed resistance to herbicides, and expanding regulations to encourage more sustainable farming practices. These provisions are aimed at improving soil health, soil fertility and nutrient management, as well as reducing the use of chemicals, especially those that pose a risk to health or the environment. Selective spraying solutions are ideal to help farmers address these challenges.

Bilberry is a pioneer in the application of artificial intelligence technology that identifies a wide variety of weed species in real time for all types of crops. The system allows sprinklers to be retrofitted with technology whereby herbicide is applied only to the weeds, rather than to the crop or bare soil. The system also allows farmers to visualize their crops as well as weeds on a map so that they can track their development in problem areas. Bilberry was one of the first companies to put this technology commercially, and studies have shown that the system can reduce the use of herbicides with more than 80%, while protecting the environment and significantly lowering the invested costs.

Our planned acquisition of Bilberry builds on Trimble's crop protection portfolio by adding selective spraying capabilities and supports our development of autonomous solutions for agriculture.

Bilberry's solution is compatible with most brands and models of sprayers, which is ideal for most farms that use equipment from different manufacturers. This is a great advantage and, together with Trimble's existing competencies, will allow us to expand our role in the growing market for precision farming solutions that can reduce input costs, improve efficiency for our customers and drive sustainability in agriculture.”

Jim Chambers, vice president of Trimble Agriculture shared.

Combining the technologies of Trimbleand Bilberrywill enable the development of new and exciting selective spraying solutions for farmers around the world who often encounter difficulties in integrating and using hardware and software products across different brands of agricultural equipment.

About Trimble:

The agriculture division of the international high-tech company Trimble provides solutions that solve complex technological challenges throughout the agricultural process. The solutions allow farmers to optimize their production resources successfully and in an environmentally sustainable way. Covering all seasons, crops, terrains of farmers, Trimble solutions can be used on most makes and models of farm machines, regardless of manufacturer.

About Bilberry:

The company was founded in Paris, France in 2016. Its mission is to help growers drastically reduce the amount of chemicals sprayed on crops while improving the quality of their crop production and profitability. Using artificial intelligence, Bilberry transforms crop protection by spraying at the plant level. The company's smart farming systems turn sprayers into smart motors that spray weeds directly without harming crops.