Key Long-Term Topics in Focus

From The President

Key Long-Term Topics in Focus

By Brent Kemp, President and CEO

I invested in bifocal glasses in February. Aside from the reminder of years passing and eyes wearing out, the purchase prompted reflection on vision – specifically, organizational vision.

AgGateway was founded over 20 years ago by individuals and organizations with a vision of how connectivity and efficiency lead to more profitable business. Our volunteers presented at conferences on the dollars and time saved by implementing agreed-upon, standardized business messages. Volunteers identified the need for improved documentation and exchange of field operations records. We recognized early on that we didn’t have all the answers, nor did we represent every channel where farm outputs travel after harvest. So, we partnered with peers (GS1, ICAR, AEF, and more) and hosted international collaborative efforts to ensure the work done in AgGateway is compatible with those other data exchange processes.

We look to the future, still focused on business efficiency and value creation. As I have conversations with members and participate in outside meetings representing AgGateway, I see several long-term topics with which we’re engaged.

  • Identification. The traceability of products across borders or supply chains, and the myriad use cases requiring enumeration of locations and parties underlie resources like AGIIS and the logic that led to implementation of ContextItem in ADAPT. AgGateway working groups focus conversation on identification in best practices and in most cost-effective means to create, publish, and share machine understandable codes to speed creation and comprehension of both B2B and A2A (application to application) messages.
  • Interoperability. Efficient exchange and use of data assumes the interoperability of process and semantics, and AgGateway members have worked hard to document and implement interoperability standards. That said, unstructured data is still the primary training basis for LLMs where the provenance of the data itself is often questioned. Permissioned access to interoperable data is a multi-industry conversation in which AgGateway is not only a participant, but an influencer.
  • Artificial Intelligence. Whether we mean machine learning, agentic AI, robotics, imagery, or some or all of the above, artificial intelligence is part of our business environment. AgGateway continues to invest in leading meaningful discussions on the topic for our members. We are also exploring ways in which artificial intelligence may optimize publication and maintenance of digital resources. Look for more on this at the North America Mid-Year Meeting in Altoona, Iowa, USA and at Europe’s Summer Seminar, tentatively to be held in Brussels, Belgium.

AgGateway members and volunteers continue to bring their business issues to the table, with the vision that principled, standards-based processes developed and implemented collaboratively will improve business efficiency and profitability. Our work impacts the industry every day as chemical and seed transactions pass between partners and as FMIS systems receive recommendations and pass work orders to the field. Share the vision of the value you expect to receive with your peers and see that future become reality. You won’t need bifocals to witness it.