November Working Group Round-Up


Portfolio Management Center

November Working Group Round-Up

By Dan Berne, AgGateway Portfolio Manager

Want to get involved or start a group? Contact Member Services at Member.Services@AgGateway.org.

The Annual Conference is upon us and working groups are preparing their presentations and working sessions. Here are a couple of additional reasons why you will want to attend the conference in Nashville, November 8-10:

  • We’ll be doing a real-time portfolio update. You’ll get to ask questions and interact with members of other teams.
  • From Agrisemantics to Product Catalog to Closed Loop Spraying – the list goes on and on when it comes to one working group leveraging the deliverables from another. Join us on Tuesday, Nov. 9, at the conference and help identify the cross-portfolio connections and how we can better extend the value of our digital resources.
  • Creating Better Value Statements:  What in the world does a cereal box have to do with value propositions for data standards and software products? To find out, join us at the Value Proposition session on Wednesday, Nov. 10. This will be a hands-on fun session and I hope you can make it!

Here are updates from the working groups:

Agrisemantics (WG 00)

While the working group will not have a specific session at the Annual Conference, they will be present at other sessions for discussions. In the meantime, they continue to work with the agricultural lab working groups in both North America and Brazil. They are also working with the Data Linking working group on creating context items.

In-Field Product Identification (WG 01) and In-Field Product ID Plugins (WG 08)

Come hear how these two working groups demonstrated the ability to identify seed product inputs at the time of application. This included the development of a Shipped Item Instance JSON message of the product and an ADAPT plugin. The plugin converts supply chain messages that are in the OAGi standard to crop production messages in the ADAPT and ISO11783 standard. The product information can then be displayed on a planter control system monitor or mobile device. A meet-up is also planned for the Annual Conference to further define these and determine what the next working group might focus on.

Product Catalog (WG 03)

Group members have been meeting with other member companies to assist them in implementing the Product Catalog API. In addition, the group is planning version 2.1, which will allow for the access to more agronomic information. The group will discuss their next targets and phase of work at the Annual Conference.

Agricultural Laboratory Data (WG 04)

The group is nearing its goal to complete the Modus table updates. The next step will be to determine how labs and Farm Management Information System (FMIS) companies can best share the data.

Farm Inputs: Reference Data (WG 06)

The working group has completed a reference data model on crop protection and a Resource Development Framework (RDF) architecture on crop protection. These efforts were led by AgGateway member Lexagri-Wageningen University. The university is very much in favor of AgGateway publishing the results, as AgGateway has such a large reach into the agricultural industry.

Work Order and Work Record (WG 07)

The group has completed its modified version of the enriched SMAG data model for crop protection. They are meeting with the ADAPT team to review/harmonize gaps between ADAPT and the SMAG data model.

Data Linking Subcommittee (WG 09)

The group has outlined its use case for developing a model for finding data repositories in order to track critical events.

Ag Energy Ship Notice (WG 10)

The working group is determining if they have the IT resources to move ahead.

Integração Dados Laboratório Solos – Latin America Regional Soil Lab Data Integration (WG 11)

The group has been meeting jointly with the Ag Lab Data group to align their model on tropical soils with the overall MODUS soil test model. A business challenge is that currently the test data arrives to laboratories in many different formats. Outreach to both agricultural labs and farm management information systems will be critical for success.

Precision Irrigation - PAIL (WG 12)

Members continue to work on completing Part 2, “Observations and Measurements”.

In the Pipeline

Field Boundaries:  Many different shapes are created to represent areas of land that growers operate today. These shapes can be different from one software or hardware device to another, creating issues for growers or service providers. A central database with versioning abilities needs to be created to standardize field shapes for growers and service providers. Tied closely with this is the need to standardize on a common reference model for Real Time Kinematic (RTK) networks to improve the accuracy of drone mapping for autonomous vehicles and robots. A meet-up is scheduled for the Annual Conference to discuss these issues.

Potato Provenance:  Interested parties held a second meet-up on potato provenance on September 23. Attending companies include potato processors as well as FMIS companies. The group aligned on the goals and scope of the potential project. Participants agreed that the first objective would be to gather as much field data about the potatoes as possible, including name, location and geometry of the field. The participation of FMIS companies was deemed critical for success. Output from the meeting will be used to draft a charter for a new working group.

Closed Loop Spraying:  AgGateway Europe region is leading an effort to create a protocol that helps farmer stay in compliance with regulations for spraying. The focus is on interoperable communication between the spraying equipment and a farm management information system (FMIS). Data sharing would include product discovery, label data-compliant work orders, and an immutable work record. A meet-up was held on October 27 and results will be shared at the Annual Conference.

Water Use and Water Quality Management:  The focus is on providing standards for obtaining, reporting, and verifying water management data that can be used for sustainability credits. Almost all reporting today is voluntary and comes in many formats. This includes both the quantity (amount of water used, return flows) and the quality of the water (purity, leaching of chemicals, etc.).

Carbon Sequestration:  There is strong interest in carbon sequestration and understanding what data is required in agriculture and how that data can be seamlessly shared. This is tied closely with water quality management data by feedlots, commodity buyers, FMIS companies, etc. A meet-up session is scheduled at Annual Conference.

Crop Protection Forecasting:  At the Crop Protection Connectivity Canada meet-up, Scott Nieman of Land O’ Lakes presented the idea of providing crop protection forecasting for product shipments. This would be done by looking at three years of historical data and combining that with daily updates to improve shipment schedules. Look for a call for participation in coming weeks for this meet-up.

Grain Scale Ticket:  The focus is on standardizing the data to provide proof of delivery of grain from the farmer to the grain elevator. This includes actual delivery, proof of delivery, and transfer of ownership/custody. The data can potentially be used heavily downstream for traceability and stewardship. A goal is to eliminate the use of paper receipts. This work would leverage previous work done for AgGateway’s CART project.

Support for Smallholder Farmers in Latin America:  Smallholder farmers often miss out on the use of agricultural data to improve their efficiency and profitability. AgGateway has been supporting the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) and the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in surveying smallholder farmers in Brazil. The results will provide input to larger discussions with GFAR, FAO and the Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) on extending the benefits of digital agriculture to those farmers.