MORTON, Ill. – Building on a 29-year legacy that began in Tremont, Ill., Precision Planting, LLC, announced on June 22 that they would build a new operations center in nearby Morton (Tazewell County). Precision Planting is a leading manufacturer of precision technologies for farmers who seek to improve crop yields while practicing sustainable agriculture.

The company produces a variety of products farmers install on their existing equipment to improve the accuracy and data collection of their equipment, and, ultimately, the profitability of their farming operation. Precision Planting has been headquartered since 1993 in Tremont, where the company was founded by the Sauder family. Since then, the company has been sold to Monsanto (2012) and Agco (2017), for which it is now a subsidiary.

“Since 2014, we have had an operations presence in Morton, with our main facility being located at the corner of Birchwood and Erie,” said Keith Crow, director of finance for Precision Planting. “As the business has continued to add products and increase our global footprint, an entirely new space to assemble, house and ship products has become imperative. We are choosing to stay in Morton because of our committed employees’ proximity to Tremont headquarters, and access to the interstate. We look forward to growing our presence as an employer of choice in the greater Peoria area.”

The new factory, which at 500,000 square feet will more than double the current plant’s size, will be near the confluence of I-74 East to I-155 South. The building is scheduled to begin operations in November 2023, pending construction schedules. The plan also allows for future expansion of the facility, based on the growth of the business.

“The facility will serve the needs of our farmer customers around the globe, and we will be ready to hire more great employees who embody the culture of Precision Planting: teamwork, care for each other and an ownership mentality being at the forefront of how we work,” said Chuck Boyer, Precision Planting senior operations manager.

The company currently manufactures monitoring and measuring equipment, seeder and planter downforce control products, planter furrow depth gauges, seed delivery tubes and meters, and liquid application delivery meters and gauges. According to Precision Planting marketing manager Bryce Baker, the company has no shortage of new products and ideas in the development pipeline.

“We’re talking about products for crop sprayers – there is a lot of opportunity for technology growth there. One of the things that are being worked on is the use of cameras on the crop sprayer with artificial intelligence and machine learning. This is essentially teaching software how to interpret an image that is taken in by the camera,” Baker told Farm World.

“This would allow sprayers to either spray a higher rate of herbicide to kill weeds when there are more weeds or spray a lower rate when there are fewer weeds, leading to more sustainable paths for the environment. Also, those cameras can be used for spraying individual areas that need spraying, and where there is dry ground, no crop or no weeds, no herbicide would be sprayed.”

In addition to their Morton factory, Precision Planting facilities include their headquarters south of Tremont, a software development facility in Bloomington, and a 400-acre research farm, the Precision Technology Institute, in Pontiac. Ground is expected to be broken on the new Morton plant this fall, according to Baker.

“We’re going to feature the latest cutting-edge technologies be it packaging, shipping or moving products within our facility. The specifics of the amenities the building will feature are still being considered by our developer and our team, but it will house our receiving, quality, assembly and shipping to our dealers and OEM partners around the globe,” Baker said.