Mahindra acquires 10 percent stake in Canadian Agri-solution company

Mahindra & Mahindra has invested 6.63 million Canadian dollars (Rs 34.5 crore) for acquiring around 800,402 class C preferred shares of the Canada-based Resson Aerospace company, which provides advanced farming related solutions to farmers.

The investment will see Mahindra holding up to 10 percent of the share capital of Resson on a fully diluted basis. The Canadian company has developed a system that captures and interprets images of farmlands, which is later used by the respective farmers to know the state of their field and crops.

The company primarily operates in the Canadian and the US market, where it combines computer vision, machine learning and big data analytics to provide the farmers with actionable insights using their respective field data.

Its predictive analytics solution aims to go beyond NDVI (normalised difference vegetation index) maps which are derived from satellite and drone imagery to virtually scout every part of the field to detect, classify and geo-locate specific anomalies, pests and diseases.

Resson also provides cloud-based platform to help better manage yields, crop inputs and agronomy decisions, along with working with strategic partners and third-party service providers. For CY2017 the company reported a turnover of 1.4 million Canadian dollars (Rs 7.2 crore).

Through this acquisition, Mahindra aims to further develop technology solutions for its farm division. The acquisition is expected to be completed by May 10, 2018.