Raven Industries, Inc., Sioux Falls, S.D., acquired Smart Ag Inc., Ames, Iowa. This acquisition is part of Raven Autonomy, the company’s strategic growth platform to become an industry leader in autonomous agriculture solutions. Complementing the company’s applied technology division, this acquisition will be integrated into the company’s applied technology division business and technology portfolio with the intent to create autonomous solutions for the precision ag market.

“The acquisition of Smart Ag is part of a bold, company-wide strategy for Raven,” says Dan Rykhus, president and CEO of Raven Industries. “It is a key investment in Raven Autonomy, one of our two strategic growth platforms. Autonomy in agriculture is the future of farming, and this acquisition, coupled with our existing precision agriculture solutions, solidifies our position as a technology leader within this market.”

As part of Raven Autonomy, the company plans to deliver autonomous solutions for agriculture for both OEM partners and ag retailers. This move coincides with the company’s recent agreement to acquire majority ownership in DOT Technology Corp., Canada.

Smart Ag offers aftermarket retrofit kits to automate farm equipment as well as a platform to connect, manage and safely operate autonomous agricultural machinery.

“Raven’s experience in machine and application control is a perfect complement to the autonomous machine control developed by Smart Ag,” says Brian Meyer, division vice president of Raven applied technology. “Together, the expertise of both companies will allow for more operations to be performed in-field — with a significant increase in both performance and outputs. By automating existing machine platforms and implements, driverless machines have great potential to complement the work of manned machine operations in the field.”