Members Embrace “Create, Engage, Grow – 2.0” At Productive Annual Conference

Members Embrace “Create, Engage, Grow – 2.0” At Productive Annual Conference

This year’s Annual Conference in Florida was more than an annual meeting. Beyond the usual “roll up your sleeves” working meetings and strategy sessions, it was a celebration of significant accomplishments from the year past, and real excitement for the year ahead.

“Conference Week highlighted the hard work our members have completed over the past twelve months to continue to improve data interoperability,” says North American Director and COO Jeremy Wilson. “The work they have planned for the next year will push our industry forward in the drive to digital agriculture.”

The Conference experienced a year-over-year attendance surge of nearly a third, and sponsor support for AgGateway conferences in 2022 exceeded budget. Session content this year provided a richer learning experience for attendees, including two fascinating keynote addresses that put the work of AgGateway into context with broader market trends. Jeff Blair, President of ag retailer Greenpoint Ag, challenged the crop production channel to step up to the challenges of bringing value to farmers.

“If you are going to turn data into something that is really beneficial for the farmer you have to have data standards so that you can convert that data into information and intelligence,” says Blair.

The second keynote presenter, Rob Dongoski from consulting firm EY, took the conversation all the way back to consumers and demonstrated how consumer demand for transparency and sustainability should inform the kinds of data we collect and share.

“Consumers are playing a bigger role and driving the conversation,” he says. “What they want produced, how they want it treated, how much visibility they want to have into the process, and the values of the businesses they want to do business with.”

The Conference also hosted a successful series of Quick Connect meetings for trading partners, hosted eight undergraduate and postgraduate students as part of the Gateway to Ag Careers program, and featured networking meals and receptions to keep the discussion flowing.

Of course, members were deeply involved in meetups, committees, and Working Groups to get after the wide range of projects currently in the hopper. ADAPT, now well past the quarter-million download mark, was the subject of some great sessions as it moves through the process of becoming a full-blown data standard. “The team is close to starting up a new working group that will take ADAPT to the next step, moving from the current machine centric task file-based architecture to a web enabled field data focused approach,” says Portfolio Manager Ben Craker.

Another highlight was a presentation on the new version 2.0 of the Modus lab test codes. The team is finalizing the public facing tools to support the new lab test standards and reaching out to key companies to begin implementation efforts of the improved, and backwards compatible test data reporting structure, says Craker.

Martha King, Vice President, Programs and Projects for the Farm Foundation and one of the session presenters, said that AgGateway's Modus data standard gives them “a great foundation to build upon in advancing interoperability for soil health data,” she says. “By converging around a common standard and format, we can accelerate not just the consistency of soil health data reporting, but importantly the use of the data – ultimately making it easier for farmers to derive value from their soil health practices as well as empowering farmers with more efficient and comprehensive tools for decision-making.”

Craker also pointed to positive movement on work in Field Boundaries, as well as the Agrisemantics group.

“It’s clear from meeting discussions, presentations, and keynote addresses that the need for collaboration on data standards and interoperability has never been more urgent,” says Brent Kemp, AgGateway President and CEO. “We’re proud to be the place the industry comes to develop the relationships and resources driving digital agriculture forward.”

AgGateway would like to thank our sponsors for their invaluable support of the 2022 Annual Conference. Our event sponsors were Telus Agriculture, Proagrica, BASF, SSI, Corteva Agriscience, GROWMARK, Bayer, Rosen's Inc., ACS, the AgCIO Roundtable, Syngenta, DXC, AgVantage Software, The Equity, Winfield United and EFC Systems by Ever.Ag.

The next in-person event for AgGateway members is in Altoona, IA at the Mid-Year Meeting, June 12-15.