New Soil Testing Standardization Working Group

Soil Testing

New Soil Testing Standardization Working Group

By Corina Ardelean, AGCO Corporation

We are happy to announce the inception of the AgGateway Soil Testing Standardization Working Group, operating within the Standards & Guidelines Committee. During previous AgGateway meetings, several members identified the need to standardize the nomenclature and data format for soil test results. It was also recognized that the scope of the group might extend beyond soil testing, to include plant tissue analysis, water analysis and other agricultural laboratory data layers.

The goal of the Soil Testing Standardization group is to evaluate the existing standards, determine the industry preferred data formats and create a comprehensive standard for all agricultural laboratory data layers.

An initial meeting was held in Minneapolis in December, sponsored by CHS; at that meeting I was appointed to lead the group. The group decided to first address the soil test data. During this initial meeting, several data formats were presented, including: eLabs, Modus and OAGIS. The group leadership will continue to work with the different data format developers and gather all information for a following face-to-face deep-dive meeting.

Please feel free to join our working group, and to attend the meeting once the time and location are communicated. If you’re interested in joining the group, just contact member services at Member.Services@AgGateway.org, and they’ll get you on the distribution list so that you are in the loop on our upcoming plans.