The Value of our Global Focus

From the President

The Value of our Global Focus

By Brent Kemp, President and CEO

When I’m asked to describe AgGateway as an organization, one thing I always emphasize is that we are international in scope. Going back to 2008, AgGateway board members and member companies were already identifying ways that the successes in both resource and relationship development achieved in North America could translate around the globe. In late 2013, the AgGateway Global Network was born. And five years ago, the Europe, América Latina, and North America regions came together into our current structure in 2020.

But, depending on where one is in the world, it’s sometimes easy to miss that global picture.

This came to mind last month, as several staff members and volunteers had the opportunity to gather in Germany to see how AgGateway’s impact is felt on a global stage. For a more detailed account of our time there, check out Ben Craker’s summary of the ISO TC 347 plenary and working group meeting in this newsletter. It succinctly describes not only the meetings held but also the areas where AgGateway resources are already influencing or poised to influence the TC’s work.

For my own part, looking around the room, I was pleased to see the number of attendees either in person or online who contribute to our efforts. Representatives from France, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Japan, Spain, and the United States all had ties to AgGateway in some form or fashion, highlighting the network that we have developed for solving business problems through implementation of practical digital resources. Conversations flowed more easily, and we were able to reinforce the value of tools like ADAPT, PAIL, and SPADE in that context.

AgGateway’s Europe Region also held a face-to-face seminar at the end of the week, focusing on regional challenges like responses to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, and requirements for eInvoicing. In some cases, the message payload has been defined within the regulation itself, but there are still opportunities for AgGateway members to use their relationships to encourage development and implementation of a common guideline that steers clear of one-off variances for the message by partner or connection.

Meanwhile in Brazil that same week, a member meeting was held in América Latina. The gathered group determined that their priorities for the next 12 months include optimizing the time for networking and ideation at their in-person meetings, and developing papers or working groups on topics like big data and AI; geospatial data, especially as understood by the field boundaries working group; continued evaluation of needs for climate and weather data in Brazil; and use of communication technologies to expand the awareness of and participation in AgGateway beyond Brazil.

I should also mention that the importance of networking and collaboration on a global scale is also driving improvements and new approaches to our digital tools and platforms. For example, we are enhancing our member management system, MyAgGateway, to better support localization for event registrations and date/time formats. We are also in final evaluation of in-line translation tools for virtual meetings. This may involve migrating off the legacy GoTo Meeting service we’ve used since our inception, so look for more news as that breaks.

Our commitment to supporting AgGateway’s global work is unchanged. This past month has underscored the value of engaging in a global context so that the resources you, the members, develop, can be more widely implemented. In an uncertain geopolitical context it is ever more important to have a seat at the table where your concerns and needs are being discussed. AgGateway will continue to represent you and facilitate the relationships that make doing business in a standards-compatible way possible.

Want to hear more about what’s happening at ISO or in our regional groups? There’s more in this newsletter. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas for increasing value from engagements like this.