LONGMONT - St. Louis-based agriculture biotech company Monsanto (NYSE:MON) has acquired Longmont-based EarthMap Solutions LLC, a spinoff of DigitalGlobe Inc. in Longmont.

EarthMap, founded in 2005 and headed by President and Chief Executive Greg Knoblauch, retains its name, remains in Longmont and will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Monsanto, said Lee Quarles, a spokesman for Monsanto. EarthMap has seven employees and expects to add a few more jobs in the coming months, he said.

Terms of the deal that took place in January were not released.

Monsanto was a customer of EarthMap, which has remote-sensing technology that creates color-coded maps showing the condition of crops and forests using DigitalGlobe's satellite images and other aerial photography. The technology measures chlorophyll content and plant health.

"EarthMap by far has the best product of all the companies we hire to provide this type of information," Quarles said. "This type of real-time information will benefit all our agricultural clients. Our farmers will be able to get more yield out of each acre."