Marking a Milestone and Moving the Needle

From the President

Annual Meeting and Conference: Marking a Milestone and Moving the Needle

By Brent Kemp, President and CEO

November is meeting season, and the time is approaching fast. This year we will celebrate AgGateway’s 20th anniversary and the value that connected agricultural data brings at our annual meeting and conference in Clearwater, Florida, USA. If you’ve not already made your travel arrangements or completed registration, now is the time.

You won’t want to miss the extensive panels on the impact of artificial intelligence on agriculture, our amazing speakers, or the opportunity to drive future connectivity working groups with your organization’s needs in mind. We will have excellent networking opportunities as always. And, if you want to highlight your company and show your commitment to collaborative, standards-based connections, we still have some highly visible sponsorship opportunities.

This past month I was privileged to represent AgGateway at Tronia Systems’ 2025 user meeting and conference. Tronia gathered many interesting speakers on topics ranging from credit and financial processes to privacy, data quality, and data exchange. Artificial intelligence was a theme that ran through several sessions.

A particular highlight for me was a talk by Steve McQueen of Nachurs Alpine on living “above and below the line,” and how that forms us into the people we are. I won’t spoil the premise since it is a useful group building exercise, except to say that Steve’s use of the tool through his presentation resonated with the “Why” of AgGateway. Understanding who we are, and who the people around us are, is foundational for building trust in teams.

As much as we develop resources that enable efficiency, clarity, and timeliness of business processes, we also enable the creation and sustenance of relationships between you – the people who make the connections, both technically and interpersonally – which drive digital agriculture. Our conferences are opportunities to build these relationships and renew acquaintances. They enable trust to be built so that when the inevitable business process hiccups happen, we can work together to resolve issues unencumbered by a sense of us-versus-them. Team building and nurturing of trust are part of AgGateway’s legacy, too.

In October, we’ll be sharing the details of both our 2026-2030 Strategic Plan as well as the 2026 plan and budget. The Board of Directors and staff have worked diligently to craft a plan that is both forward thinking and realistic. We know that, above all else, our work and the way we go about it must be practical and useful. I look forward to your thoughts on our intended direction and welcome your feedback. Your participation in the webinar and feedback process is part of the team building and trust building that is central to AgGateway’s work.

Your implementation is what moves the needle for your business and the industry. AgGateway provides the space and opportunity to plan and prepare for that implementation. I can’t wait to see you at November’s meetings, and the meetings to come, as we move into our 21st year of enabling and expanding connections together.