Exciting Times for Topcon Precision Agriculture in Australia

Press Release 14th January, 2009

The past 12 months has seen a global trend towards consolidation in the Precision Agriculture manufacturing sector, with numerous mergers and buy outs being announced throughout 2008. Due to its comparatively early acquisition in 2006 of Australian based company KEE Technologies, Topcon Positioning Systems Inc. is already in a position to reap the rewards of its forward thinking business approach with the launch of its new range of Topcon Precision Agricultural solutions.

Topcon Positioning Systems, developer and manufacturer of positioning equipment, offers a world leading selection of innovative precision GPS, GIS, laser, optical surveying and machine control products, software and applications. Topcon has been supplying the agricultural market positioning hardware and software technology for over 12 years worldwide in the areas of data acquisition and management, machine control, precision land leveling, mapping and water use management.

Since the KEE Technologies acquisition in 2006 its original facility and staff in South Australia have become the Topcon Technology Center, the global base for the development of Topcon Precision Agriculture (TPA) next generation agricultural technology and solutions. The decision to incorporate KEE Technologies staff and their 25 years of experience in agricultural electronics and applications has enabled the rapid development of the new Topcon Precision Agriculture range to be launched in Australia in January 2009.

A key component in the new range is Topcon’s World’s First Paradigm G3 triple constellation satellite receiver chip allowing agricultural users for the first time to receive signal from all available satellites, (GPS, GLONASS and Galileo), and into the foreseeable future. The total number of satellites available to owners of new Topcon Precision Ag systems will exceed 80 once all Galileo satellites are in service.

In preparation for Topcon’s proactive push into the Australian agricultural marketplace in 2009, it has aligned itself with Position Partners as its distributor for NSW and QLD. The company Position Partners was created in July 2008 through the Topcon Positioning Systems network of major independent Australian dealers joining forces. Coming together to form Position Partners are ABC Lasers (QLD), Laserquip (NSW/ACT), Laser Beams (VIC/TAS), Ross Instruments (SA/NT) and Stadia Instruments (WA). This has created the country’s largest and most experienced precision positioning business and also one of the largest Topcon distributors in the world –with a new national headquarters in Melbourne and a staff of more than 130 people throughout Australia.

Position Partners will host a series of road show demonstrations and presentations to launch the new Topcon range of Precision Agriculture technology in key rowcrop and broadacre regions during February and March across QLD and NSW. The Topcon Precision Agriculture Road show will introduce growers, agronomists, industry associations, grower groups and key stakeholders to the latest Topcon developments in Auto-steering, GPS Land Leveling, Variable Rate Spray and Fertiliser Applications, Spray Boom Section/Height Control, Mapping and Farm Management Software.

For further details on the Topcon Precision Agriculture Road show locations and dates contact Felicity White (QLD): M. 0437 438 801; E. fwhite@positionpartners.com.au or Patrick Boyle: M: 0402 790 391; E: pboyle@positionpartners.com.au

About Topcon Positioning Systems

Topcon Positioning Systems, INC., Livermore, Calif., is a worldwide leader in the development and manufacturing of precision positioning product. Its innovative GNSS technology was the world’s first to offer triple-constellation satellite tracking: GPS,GLONASS and Galileo. Its wide selection of precision technology includes laser, optical, imaging and machine control products for agricultural, construction, surveying, GIS and many other applications. Topcon Corporation is traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (7732).