My ICPA Experience and the Benefits of Global Reach

From The President

My ICPA Experience and the Benefits of Global Reach

By Brent Kemp, AgGateway President and CEO

We often make the point that AgGateway is an international organization. I recently had the opportunity to represent our organization at the 17th International Conference on Precision Agriculture (ICPA) co-located with Brazil’s ConBAP conference in Porto Alegre. It was the first time that ICPA has taken place in Brazil, and I was thrilled to be among those in attendance.

An AgGateway team submitted a presentation proposal on our ADAPT Standard work, and it was my privilege to present that as part of the breakout talks. While there, I also had the chance to participate and share my perspective in a panel on international digital agriculture. I made several new contacts, enjoyed some excellent food, and engaged with some dedicated and passionate advocates for agriculture around the world. We also welcomed a new member organization, Tecnopuc Celeiro Hub.

Our international perspective enables a broad view of practices, principles, and expectations when it comes to the business of agriculture. Data harmonization and foundational reference data cross borders as well. One of last week’s conversations involved Europe’s implementation of data spaces, and the role of standards in connecting to them. The Common European Agricultural Data Space, or CEADS, is intended to establish a secure, trusted, interoperable environment to facilitate data sharing. Specific use cases guide the development and implementation of technology and contracts that allow stakeholders to access data, networks, and repositories.

For those organizations that participate, AgGateway’s work in data modeling, definitions, and cross-segment harmonization could help enable them to engage and see value quickly. Although CEADS is currently scoped for European organizations, international participation is anticipated over time.

Another data-sharing problem I discussed related to soil test results and permissioned access to them in Brazil. We talked about the results of WG11, the AgGateway working group that adapted Modus for tropical soils. We talked about the expanded scope of the need, including not only data sharing mechanisms and agreements, but also use, access, and retention expectations. There was genuine excitement about having AgGateway as the place for convening the conversation and getting work done.

My time at IFCA reaffirmed one of the reasons AgGateway consolidated the regional groups into a single organization seven years ago. The problems facing agribusinesses and the industry are common across the globe. There may be some regional peculiarities, but in general the issues are similar enough that solutions developed in one region should have application in others. Our role is to surface those solutions where they exist and avoid reinventing wheels. Many members with multinational operations – including Telus Agriculture, Topcon, and John Deere – who were present at the meeting brought participants engaged in AgGateway activities.

If you’re a member who wants to know more about our regional work in Asia, Europe, Latin America, or North America, and how to connect personnel there to our organization, let me know. I’m always ready to help communicate the value that collaboration and implementation brings.