Submitted
On Thursday, Westfield Mayor Andy Cook, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb and executives from agricultural intelligence and precision scouting leader Taranis announced the company’s plans to locate its global headquarters in Westfield.
Taranis, an ag innovator and industry scouting pioneer, will create up to 60 new, high-wage jobs by the end of 2023.
The new headquarters will help grow Taranis’ presence in the Midwest and enhance customers’ accessibility to the company’s state-of-the-art agriculture technology solutions.
“The addition of Taranis to our community grows our influence in the region as an attractive location for businesses and job seekers,” Cook said. “Its emergence as a leader in precision scouting coupled with Westfield’s commitment to advancing agricultural innovation in our region makes this an ideal and exciting partnership. With Taranis joining our own AgReliant, I am proud that Westfield will be headquarters to these two agriculture leaders.”
DiPaola
Cook
“Locating our global headquarters in the heart of the America’s largest commodity crop production region enables us to interact more directly with our customers to better address the agronomic challenges of their growers,” said Mike DiPaola, general manager of North America and vice president of global sales at Taranis. “This exciting chapter for Taranis positions us well for growing our customer base and recruiting employee talent, while also allowing us to entrench ourselves in the area as the undisputed leader in precision scouting.”
Taranis, which empowers growers to make informed and timely replant, crop nutrition and protection decisions that optimize yields through precision scouting, is investing nearly $10.5 million to lease and equip its new 6,000 square-foot facility at 725 E. Main St. in Westfield. The facility will allow the company to significantly expand its team of agronomists and associates while increasing its total acreage serviced. The company’s location in Tel Aviv, Israel, will continue to operate as its Innovation Center.
By utilizing drone fleets capable of capturing high-resolution imagery, Taranis’ proprietary software platform analyzes images and aggregates data to deliver real-time insights during each growth stage at a leaf-level resolution 20 times faster than the manual alternative. The images are tagged and evaluated by Taranis’ artificial intelligence platform, which delivers the insights to users through the company’s comprehensive CONNECT mobile platform.
With Taranis’ agronomic solutions, growers and their advisors can detect early symptoms of uneven emergence, nutrient deficiencies, weeds, crop diseases, insects or water stress almost immediately.
“Taranis’ new headquarters is a welcome addition to the Hoosier state as we continue to grow our thriving tech presence,” Holcomb said. “This investment will further strengthen our position as a top agricultural producing state and help attract a large, diverse talent pool for the future. I couldn’t be more grateful Taranis has chosen Indiana to call home.”
Taranis, which currently employs more than 80 people across the U.S., Latin America, Eastern Europe, Australia and the Middle East, plans to consolidate its sales, marketing and administrative functions at the new Westfield facility and continue to significantly expand its workforce during the first year of operation. The company is hiring for positions in drone and aviation operations, customer success, marketing and sales and has already hired seven toward its goal. Interested applicants may apply online.
The Indiana Economic Development Corporation offered Taranis Inc. up to $1.25 million in conditional tax credits based on the company’s high-wage job creation plans. These tax credits are performance-based, meaning the company is eligible to claim incentives once Hoosiers are hired.
About Taranis
Taranis represents a new category in agricultural innovation by bringing together the best of precision ag and crop scouting. It combines high-resolution imagery, field intelligence, comprehensive diagnostics, API integration and deep agronomic know-how to allow crop advisers to make better, more informed crop management decisions. The company works with 16 of the world’s top 20 agricultural retailers and crop protection companies and monitors more than 20 million acres of land globally for over 19,000 customers in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Russia, Ukraine and Australia. Taranis employs over 80 people worldwide and is headquartered in Westfield.