March 2022 Working Group Round-Up

Portfolio Management Center

March 2022 Working Group Round-Up

By Dan Berne, AgGateway Portfolio Manager

Just two months into the new year, the Portfolio Management Center is excited to share significant movement on key Working Group projects, including the approval of two new Working Groups developed through AgGateway Europe.

Conny Graumans, AgGateway Europe Regional Director, presented charters for two Working Groups at the February Portfolio Management Center meeting. After review and minor changes, AgGateway COO Jeremy Wilson gave his approval. The two new groups are described below.

1. Working Group 13 | Closed Loop Spray: Product Identification

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.

One of the first steps will be examining existing AgGateway digital resources. These include:

  • The Product Catalog
  • Mix Ticket
  • Work from WG 01 In-Field Product Identification
  • Definitions for work orders and work records
  • “OK to Spray” work from the SPADE project

Those interested should look for a Call for Participation or contact Conny Graumans (conny.graumans@aggateway.org).

2. Working Group 14 | Potato Provenance Data: Field Identification

A charter was submitted and approved for the new Working Group. The overall use case involves a potato processor wanting to know on which field(s) a batch of potatoes was grown and harvested and the associated field practices. The focus of WG 14 will be on field identification. This is of high interest not only to potato processors, but also to FMIS companies, as different formats create more work and headaches for them.

Those interested in joining this new Working Group should contact Conny Graumans. (conny.graumans@aggateway.org).

AgGateway Product Catalog Moves into Implementation Phase

Version 2.1 of the Product Catalog has been submitted and approved by the Digital Resource Center. This latest version incorporates data for use beyond eCommerce platform, including information on application use. Users can now query for the last time a crop protection product was modified. This option lets them receive only the changes, rather than repeating all of the data they already have, resulting in a smaller payload.

Syngenta went live with Version 2.1 last week. WinField Canada has access to Syngenta’s Product Catalog API and can provide User Acceptance Testing feedback. BASF is next in line for implementation, and Bayer is looking to implement in the Fall. For more information, contact Mike Altman mike.altman@syngenta.com.

Mix Ticket Adoption Gaining Momentum

Ag Gateway’s Work Order and Work Record messages for crop protection products has been adopted Praxydin. Murray Equipment is continuing to spin up new interfaces with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) providers and other third parties using the Mix Ticket format. Adam Hilton is working with three different companies to get interfaces set up for the spring. This will result in twelve to fifteen different companies using the format with Murray Equipment.

Field Boundaries Focuses on User Stories and Use Cases

Interested members and stakeholders have been meeting to outline potential topics in this area. The challenge, as stated by several participants, is establishing a process that allows the group to deliver tangible, high-value results that can be built upon over time.

To help provide focus, the group has created user profiles and use cases to understand how the definition of a field and field boundary can change based on a person’s role and circumstances. For example, farmers often name their fields in a way that is completely different than a crop insurance agent or ag retailer. The meaning will also change under various conditions, such planting season or change in ownership.

Another significant concern is ensuring the accuracy of field boundary measurements. This is extremely important for autonomous vehicles, which are not currently intelligent enough to circumvent small margins of error. The potential for in-field mishaps, from crop damage to machinery accidents to utility installation damage, is unacceptably high as things currently stand. AgGateway work that moves the industry towards a common reference model for GPS positioning would provide enormous value.

Portfolio Management Center Designates Two Working Groups as Subcommittees

Working Groups create and enhance AgGateway digital resources. A key feature of Working Groups is that they are set up to develop a specific set of digital resources over a 12- to 16-week time period. However, some portfolio activities are managed with a longer-term approach in mind.

To this end, the Portfolio Management Center (PMC) has designated the Agrisemantics and Data Linking groups as Subcommittees. As such, they will provide a structure and guidance and work with multiple Working Groups.

A Subcommittee is established by following AgGateway’s Digital Resource Development Process. Similar to a Working Group, its charter is approved by the PMC and the AgGateway COO. A Subcommittee consists of a chair, vice-chair, and member volunteers. Per its charter, it has a clear scope and defined set of deliverables.

1. Agrisemantics Subcommittee

The committee has worked with the WG 04 and WG 11 Lab Data Working Groups on controlled vocabularies for soil testing lab data. They have completed work on controlled vocabularies for an ADAPT Cotton Plugin. They have begun work with the Data Linking Subcommittee on controlled vocabularies and are providing input to the Field Boundaries Meet Ups.

2. Data Linking Subcommittee

The committee continues to make progress on its core deliverables:

  • A framework and processes for defining metadata repositories
  • Guiding principles for in-field data collection
  • Controlled vocabularies
  • Guidance to tracing critical tracking events and data repositories

Representatives from the Agricultural Electronics Foundation (AEF) have joined. Their intent is to learn from the work being done at AgGateway and determine how it can be applied within AEF.

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

The team is signing up growers to participate in a spring planting pilot for an enhanced version of the ADAPT Data Model that helps send the “ShippedItemInstance” data from an Ag Retailer to the tractor display. This will be used as the part of the OpenAPI that John Deere and CNH will use to get their setup files. Land O’Lakes will provide the host services through the 2022 planting season.

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. Next steps are to identify and provide content for an Implementation Kit.

PAIL Observations and Measurements (WG 12)

The team has extended Part 3 of the standard to include drip and surface irrigation operations. Companies in Japan have asked the team to solve the issue of adding water to a desired level in a rice paddy. This is a different problem than determining how much water a farmer wants to apply over a certain amount of time. The team has been able to make small, non-breaking changes to the schema to accommodate this need in surface irrigation. Rice growers in the US likely will be interested in this application as well.