To integrate water management into its expanding precision farming portfolio, Ag Leader has acquired Soil-Max, manufacturer of the market-leading Gold Digger tile plow, and the assets of Gradient, a related company which previously introduced the Intellislope GPS-based control system for controlling tile plows. These products allow growers and tiling contractors to solve water management challenges very by reducing the technical knowledge, labor and time required to install till.

The acquisition allows Ag Leader to establish a significant footprint into the fast-growing precision water management market, and will serve as a base for developing additional products for other water management tasks such as land leveling, waterway grading, ditching and levee building.

“This is a great opportunity for Ag Leader to make a bold step into an increasingly important part of the precision farming industry,” said Al Myers, founder and President of Ag Leader Technology. “Water management is a very important part of any precision farming plan. Gold Digger tile plows and the Intellislope control system have been the market-leading products in this segment for many years and we’re thrilled to add these products to our product line.”

Soil-Max will operate as an independent subsidiary of Ag Leader under the Soil-Max name, continuing to manufacture Gold Digger tile plows from its current locations in Brazil, Ind. and Sioux Falls, S.D. It will maintain its current dealer distribution system — which will be enhanced by the addition of select Ag Leader dealers.

The Intellislope control system will be transitioned to operate on Ag Leader displays in 2012. Intellislope will continue to be available from Soil-Max on Gold Digger plows, and will be available from either Soil-Max or Ag Leader for use on other brands of tile plows.

Ag Leader’s market-leading SMS desktop software will be enhanced to include water management design and documentation functions.

“Ag Leader is the perfect home for Gradient’s Intellislope and will provide farmers the total solution for a Soil-Max Gold Digger tile plow and other precision farming needs,” said Denny Bell, founder and President of both Soil-Max and Gradient. “We want the next generation of Intellislope to be in a cab display with more functionality and uses and Ag Leader is the technology leader in that field. We have long known that the limiting factor to farmers doing their own tiling is the confidence in doing a great job, easily. Intellislope’s ease-of-use combined with Ag Leader’s dealer and end-user support will make it really easy for a farmer to get off to a good start doing their own tiling.”