Key Takeaways
- China filed 66,095 precision agriculture patents in 2024, accounting for 63% of all global filings — but only 247 were granted, a 0.4% conversion rate.
- South Korea achieved a 43.1% grant rate on 2,845 filings, generating nearly as many granted patents as the United States at a fraction of the filing volume.
- Deere and CNH Industrial hold the largest farm-native IP portfolios globally, with 13,309 and 12,930 total precision ag patents respectively.
- A pattern of patent filing cessation appearing roughly 12 months before company distress has been identified in some cases, though the sample size is limited.
- Robotics and Automation accounts for about 65% of all patent transfers tracked between September 2024 and February 2025.
Why Precision Agriculture Patents in China Require Some Context
China's 66,095 precision ag patent filings in 2024 represent more than five times the volume of the United States' 12,484. That gap is frequently cited as a measure of Chinese competitiveness in agricultural technology. The grant rate complicates that reading. Of those 66,095 filings, just 247 had been granted as of March 2026, when the iGrow Intelligence data was extracted — a conversion rate of 0.4%.
A significant share of Chinese patent filings are utility model patents, which carry a lower novelty standard than invention patents and are not examined for prior art before grant. For businesses assessing freedom-to-operate risk or competitive IP exposure in precision agriculture, the number that matters is not 66,095 but 247.
Where Patent Quality Is Higher
South Korea: A Quietly Strong Position
South Korea filed 2,845 precision ag patents in 2024 and had 1,227 of them granted — a 43.1% grant rate. That puts South Korea close to the United States in terms of absolute granted output (1,742 grants), despite filing at roughly one-fifth the volume. Korea's granted IP spans seven of the eight sub-segments tracked by the report, with particularly high grant rates in Farm Management Software (40%) and AI/ML (22.2%). The iGrow Intelligence report notes that this breadth of IP is less widely discussed than China's filing volume or Germany's quality reputation.
Precision Agriculture Patents in China vs. Germany: A Different Approach
Germany's 911 filings produced a 6.1% grant rate. Amazonen-Werke, one of the more active German filers, holds 3,515 total precision ag patents with a 25% all-time grant rate, concentrated in Sensors and IoT rather than autonomous vehicle development. That focus reflects the company's background in variable rate spreading and application rate control, and appears to result in IP that is commercially relevant and more defensible. Germany's approach — fewer, more carefully prosecuted applications — contrasts with China's higher-volume, lower-conversion model. Neither approach is inherently superior; they reflect different national filing strategies and patent office dynamics.
The OEM Leaders in Precision Ag IP
Deere and CNH: Scale and Grant Rate
Among companies primarily in the agricultural equipment business, Deere and CNH Industrial hold the largest precision ag patent portfolios. Deere has 13,309 total patents with a 30.1% all-time grant rate. CNH has 12,930 with a 34.3% rate — the highest among the major OEM patent holders. CNH Belgium NV, the European holding entity used to consolidate much of CNH's IP following a divisional restructuring, records a 46.1% all-time grant rate.
Both companies were active filers in 2024 — Deere submitted 454 applications, CNH 206. Both also transferred large numbers of patents between group entities in the September 2024 to February 2025 period, which the report links to the post-Agritechnica IP consolidation cycle.
Industrial Robotics Companies Also Hold Precision Ag-Classified Patents
Fanuc Corp (8,510 total patents), LG Electronics (5,580), and Kawasaki Heavy Industries (4,502) all appear in the precision ag patent rankings. Each holds patents formally classified under agricultural CPC codes by patent office examiners. The iGrow Intelligence report notes this reflects a broader migration of industrial robotics IP into the agricultural domain, driven by technical similarities between factory automation and field automation. For companies in the precision ag robotics space, these firms are worth monitoring both as potential licensing partners and as potential sources of IP friction.
Patent Filings as a Potential Company Health Indicator
The iGrow Intelligence report identifies a pattern worth flagging, though the authors note it needs verification across a larger sample. In several cases from the 2019–2022 cohort, companies stopped filing patents around 12 months before experiencing financial difficulties or restructuring. Franka Emika GmbH, for example, ceased filing roughly a year before bankruptcy. Climate Corp stopped filing in the same year Bayer restructured the business. The pattern is not conclusive, but it may be worth tracking alongside other indicators when monitoring early-stage company health.
Explore the Full Report
This article draws on data from the 2025 Precision Agriculture Intelligence Report by iGrow Intelligence, covering funding, M&A, patents, partnerships, and global expansion across the precision agriculture sector.
