Developers Should Plan Ahead on Valuable New Data Management Resources for Farm and Grain Operations

AgGateway To Lay Out Next Steps at InfoAg in St. Louis

Washington, D.C., July 19, 2017 – AgGateway member companies collaborating on industry-wide solutions for interoperability and traceability are calling on software and system developers to make implementation plans now for these new resources. These standards, implementation guidelines and associated documentation serve as a means to significantly boost the ability of growers, advisors and grain handlers to leverage data in their operations.

“This is a win-win for solution providers and – mostly – for growers and grain handlers, who are seeking systems that can interact easily so they can better use data to increase productivity and profitability in their operations,” said Jeremy W. Wilson, Technology Specialist at Crop IMS and Chair of AgGateway’s Precision Ag Council. “A great deal of work has been done by AgGateway teams in the past 2-3 years, and now it’s time for developers to plan for the implementation of these solutions – most of which are free and publicly available for all to benefit from. We also welcome any and all new members to AgGateway to continue contributing ideas and skills to advance eConnectivity in our industry.”

Wilson and other AgGateway members will spread the message next week at the InfoAg Conference in St. Louis, Mo. AgGateway is a non-profit organization with more than 200 company members that provides an objective forum in which agri-businesses can develop industry eConnectivity solutions. AgGateway collaborates with global standards groups and regulatory organizations to develop robust frameworks, standards and guidelines for the industry to implement.

Some key areas of focus that now need industry attention for implementation planning include:

• ADAPT, the open-source Agricultural Data Application Programming Toolkit (ADAPT) for interoperability, which is being adopted by Farm Management Information Systems (FMIS) developers and terminal manufacturers;
• New standards for grain-handling information management, giving grain producers and handlers more powerful data management capabilities to address traceability and the regulatory needs of the Food Safety Modernization Act;
• Easier, standardized ways for different actors to source reference data – from label information on chemicals or genetic information on seeds, to base specifications on equipment;
• New irrigation standards for better irrigation management.

Deliverables coming out of AgGateway’s SPADE precision ag project this year will include documented product user stories and use cases, associated process diagrams showing how data flows through each story example, and data models identifying the information needed by the actors in each use case. As an example, a crop nutrition team has focused on the processes associated with nutrient management plans, including application of manure or chemical fertilizer to a field and the associated record-keeping.

Companies are encouraged to stop by AgGateway’s booth at InfoAg or to visit www.AgGateway.org for more information on implementation or how to get involved in AgGateway initiatives.

Contact:

Susan Ruland
AgGateway
(202) 742-5967, ext. 10
susan.ruland@AgGateway.org