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Agri-Trend strikes deal with John Deere

A Red Deer-based ag-consulting organization has struck a deal to share its precision farming expertise with John Deere dealerships in four provinces.

A Red Deer-based ag-consulting organization has struck a deal to share its precision farming expertise with John Deere dealerships in four provinces.

The Agri-Trend Group of Companies will provide precision farming training and support to staff at a number of John Deere dealerships operated by Cervus Equipment Corp. (TSX: CVL). They will in turn share the information with farmers.

Alberta dealerships covered by the agreement are those under the Agro Equipment, Martin Deerline and Prairie Coast Equipment banners. A number of other dealerships in Saskatchewan, British Columbia and Ontario are also affected.

“As a group of John Deere dealers, we will leverage Agri-Trend’s extensive knowledge base to help farmers implement new technologies now available in John Deere equipment,” said Cervus CEO Peter Lacey in a news release.

Robert Saik, CEO of Agri-Trend, gave as an example his group’s ability to integrate satellite and aerial imagery with John Deere’s variable rate sprayers so that pesticides can be applied in levels appropriate for the crop growth in different areas.

“This alliance will make it easy for a farmer to adopt variable rate application, merge layers of yield maps with soil zones or use GPS information to drain a field,” added Saik.

The Agri-Trend Group consists of Agri-Trend Agrology Ltd., Agri-Trend Aggregation Inc., Agri-Trend Marketing Inc., Agri-Trend Data Corp. and Agri-Trend Geo Solutions Inc. It operates in Canada, the United States and Australia.

Cervus operates agricultural, industrial and construction equipment dealerships, with a number of equipment brands represented in addition to John Deere. It was once headquartered in Red Deer, but now has its head office in Calgary.