Strong Progress After the Mid-Year

Portfolio Report

August Portfolio Update

By Ben Craker, Portfolio Manager

Some very productive working sessions at the AgGateway North American Mid-Year Meeting created momentum for progress in the months ahead, and many of the working groups are at or near completion on the deliverables identified in their charter. Several groups are putting on the final touches and preparing to hand things over to the Digital Resource Center.

This also means they are looking ahead to the next set of Working Groups to address issues that were identified as out of scope, or to take on new problems that were uncovered while the Working Groups were developing their resources.

As we wind down the current efforts and charter new working groups, be on the lookout for additional meetups and calls for participation in the coming months. This structure in AgGateway is meant to keep volunteer commitments of time and talent reasonable and to drive progress by focusing on smart deliverables within each project charter.

To address bigger, more interconnected issues we do have the three subcommittees (Agrisemantics, Data Linking, and the new Field Boundaries) that focus on providing more general direction and prioritization in different areas.

Below are some highlights from Working Groups and Meetups:

  • WG01 – In-Field Product ID is reviewing the work to identify best practices for implementation to ensure what the team delivers moves the needle on tracking seed reference data from supplier through the field operation
  • WG04 – Ag Lab Data is continuing to finalize enhancements to the lab test data elements and mapping from current systems.
  • WG11 – LATAM Soil Test Integration had an in-person meeting and continue to make progress ensuring the work of WG04 covers the needs of tropical soil types and use cases in Latin America
  • The Scale Ticket Meetup marked up a draft charter for a project to standardize and digitize scale tickets coming into and out of grain elevators and other similar facilities. There was a lot of interest and good discussion narrowing in on a scope that would really help a major pain point in the industry.
  • The Field Boundary Group identified the first Working Group and have a charter approved to begin at the start with documenting the terms, definitions, and use cases around field boundaries needed to inform the work of subsequent Working Groups.

As always, if you have any questions on a specific working group or subcommittee feel free to contact the Portfolio Manager Ben Craker. If you want to get involved, complete the form to join a Working Group. Additionally, if you have a pain point you’d like to present, submit an idea for a new Working Group using this form.