April 2022 Working Group Round-Up

Portfolio Management Center

April 2022 Working Group Round-Up

By Dan Berne, AgGateway Portfolio Manager

AgGateway volunteers have made strides on key emerging projects, and moved forward on initiatives under established Steering Committees and Working Groups. Here’s a synopsis of progress through the first quarter of the year.

Field Boundary Standards.  Establishing standards for field identity and field boundaries has been a thorny issue in agriculture for years. There are multiple expressions of a field boundary that represent the same physical space, and this often varies based on who is providing the data, who needs that data, and under what circumstances.

The accuracy needed of the field boundary also varies. One end of the spectrum is the Common Land Unit (CLU) used by the USDA Farm Service Agency. On the other end is the very precise measurements that are needed for positioning and operating autonomous vehicles.

How can we reconcile these variations? AgGateway member volunteers have been meeting to define the key issues and scope to develop one or more potential projects. The group has created user profiles and use cases to help scope the key problems and deliverables, and they will soon be submitting a new working group charter.

Now is the time to get involved in this important process! Please take time to consider who within your organization would the best be fit to join this Working Group to begin the process of solving this long-standing problem.

The group will be coordinating closely with WG 14 Potato Provenance Field Boundaries. That working group is being led out of AgGateway Europe and are holding a Call for Participation on April 5. For more information on that particular effort, contact Conny Graumans, AgGateway Europe Regional Director.

Agrisemantics Subcommittee:  The committee is finishing up its work with WG04 Lab Data Working Groups. The work on controlled vocabularies for soil testing lab data is vital to preserving the meaning of soil lab data. They have completed work on controlled vocabularies for an ADAPT Cotton Plugin. They have begun work with the Data Linking Steering Committee on controlled vocabularies. They will be a vital part of the Field Boundary projects.

Data Linking Subcommittee:  The committee is taking advantage of the Open Application Group (OAGi) 10.7.5 release. It contains a geo-spatial component missing in 10.7.4. The Subcommittee has defined its process for completing its traceability model. The first step is to decide what needs to be modeled including data requirements.

  • Container/field
  • Place/Location
  • Commodity/Product
  • Qualities of a Product

In-Field Product ID Prepares for Spring Pilot (WG 01)

The team has signed up growers to participate in a spring planting pilot for an enhanced version of the AgGateway ADAPT Data Model that helps send the ShippedItemInstance data from an ag retailer to the tractor display. Based on weather conditions, some participating growers may be ready as early as this month. Look for an update on this exciting pilot program at the Mid-Year Meeting, June 13-16 at Prairie Meadows.

Ag Lab Data Nears Completion of Work (WG 04)

The Ag Lab Data working group is completing its final review of the Modus soil test tables. As that is completed, Working Group 00 Agrisemantics has helped the team the create object codes to greatly facilitate the exchange of test data while preserving the many detailed specifications for any single soil test. When completed and ready to hand over to the Digital Resource Center, the DRC will work with the team to establish a process for publishing, reviewing and updating the soil test tables.

PAIL Closes in on Observations and Measurements (WG 12)

The working group is completing the documentation for Part 2 of the standard, which deals with observations and measurements. The Part 2 schema is based on the ISO 19156 standard for Geographic Information – Observations and Measurements. The working group has applied that standard to those areas of importance to irrigation decision making, such as soil moisture, current meteorological conditions in the field and weather forecast data.

Closed Loop Spray: Product Identification (WG 13)

This Working Group is the first in a series to support an initiative being led through AgGateway Europe. The intent is to provide farmers the data they need to ensure that they are complying with regional and local regulations. The working group will kickoff its first meeting on April 28.