2020 May Newsletter

2020  May Volume 14  Number 4


  • Watch for details soon on our Virtual Mid-Year Meeting
  • Check out the AgGateway Calendar for upcoming meetings of interest


Lab Test Efficiency

Flyer Describes AgGateway Work on Universal Soil Test Standard

AgGateway’s Agricultural Lab Data Working Group is tackling unique challenges related to soil testing. A new flyer helps explain those challenges and the solutions that the team is working to create for the industry.

Soil testing data underlies most fertilizer recommendations, but a variety of data formats in the industry makes it difficult for labs to scale, and to interoperate with farm management information systems. Bridging this gap will require a common soil test data format across regions and platforms that removes uncertainty about units of measure and methods used. Read more >

 

Mid-Year Meeting

AgGateway's Mid-Year Meeting Goes Virtual

Plans are progressing for the virtual Mid-Year Meeting, and we’ll be sharing details with you soon. The Conference Committee is reviewing online conference solutions from service providers. We plan to have break-out sessions, general sessions, and (as best we can) networking opportunities – all the things you expect of an AgGateway conference. We’re currently reviewing different scheduling options to enable more participants to attend more sessions. We’ll share more details with members as the service is selected and the program is put in place.

We welcome member ideas and suggestions. If you’re interested, join the Conference Committee calls by contacting Member Services at Member.Services@AgGateway.org.

Europe

News from the Europe Regional Group

By Conny Graumans, Director of the Europe Steering Committee

Welcome to the New Steering Committee Chair:  We’re happy to announce that Feroz Sheikh, Global Head of Digital Product Engineering at Syngenta, is the new chairman of AgGateway’s Europe Steering Committee. Feroz succeeds Hans Hulzebosch (ForFarmers). Many thanks to Hans for guiding the European region in its start-up stage.

Track & Trace of Crop Protection Products:  Based on the Cristal recommendations about identifying crop protection products throughout the supply chain, the industry, logistic service providers and distributors have joined forces in developing the Proagrica AgroCloSer-portal. The portal is designed to exchange digital orders, dispatch-advices and invoices throughout the supply chain. Logistic items are identified by their GS1 SSCC’s; and trade and consumer items are identified with GS1 GTINs. Mandatory data for the 2D-matrix code on the crop protection product labels are: GTIN, production date, batch-number, and expiration data. Exchanging these mandatory data-sets with supply chain partners enables track & trace on product items and supports quick recalls in case of calamities. Read more >

Latin America

News from the Latin American Regional Group

By José Alexandre Loyola, Director of AgGateway Latin American Steering Committee

Here are a few updates from AgGateway’s Latin America Region.

On April 17, AgGateway held a meeting in Latin America (via videoconference) to debate, discuss and validate the next steps of the ground laboratory data standardization project initiative in the Latin America region. Ronaldo Oliveira of EMBRAPA Solos was elected by the group to lead this initiative, and to represent the group in the next discussions and meetings. Read more >

Em português
No último dia 17 de abril, a AgGateway promoveu na América Latina, uma reunião (via videoconferência) para debater, discutir e validar os próximos passos da iniciativa do projeto de padronização de dados de laboratório de solo, na região da América Latina. O Sr. Ronaldo Oliveira da EMBRAPA Solos, foi eleito pelo grupo, como líder desta iniciativa, para representar o grupo nas próximas discussões e reuniões. Leia mais sobre >

 

Working Groups

New Process for Affirmatively Joining a Working Group

AgGateway is developing and testing a new process that enables AgGateway members to easily join a Working Group. Because Working Groups are the primary engine of value creation in AgGateway, it is important that members affirm their participation in a working group, in accordance with AgGateway’s policies and procedures.

In the past, Working Group chairs had to send an email to Member Services, asking them to add a member to a group and providing them access to the group’s wiki page. This often entailed a series of back and forth emails, resulting in delays in getting a new person registered as an active participant. Working Chairs had to create and maintain their own list of members, causing them unnecessary work. Read more >


AGIIS Update

Have an Idea to Enhance AGIIS? Time to Let Us Know!

As the Covid-19 virus spreads across the globe, social distancing has become our new normal as we adhere to shelter in place and work from home orders. Our new normal has presented challenges in the workforce never experienced until now. Companies have been forced to get creative and innovate or improve upon their existing infrastructure to stay competitive and stay in business.

Perhaps more than ever before, the Ag Industry Identification System (AGIIS), a subscriber database that maintains unique identifiers and common data elements of growers, manufacturers, retailers and distributors, is vital to maintaining the health of our supply chain within the ag industry. So, now is a great time for our AGIIS subscriber community to think creatively, think outside the box, and present ideas or solutions to further improve upon this valuable industry resource. Read more >