2017 August Newsletter



  • Register now for the Annual Conference, San Diego, Nov. 6 -9, 2017. Click here!
  • Check out the AgPro cover story featuring eConnectivity efforts and AgGateway members. 
  • Help Send a Student to our Annual Conference! Nominate a student for Gateway to Ag Careers by Sept. 15.
  • Nominate a great AgGateway leader for the Ron Storms Leadership Award by Sept. 15.
  • Mark your calendar! AgGateway Annual Conference – November 6-9, San Diego, California; registration will open soon.
  • Have you seen the new AgGateway eConnectivity video? It features ag retailers Co-Alliance, The Equity, Ceres Solutions, Monsanto, WinField United and Mycogen.

Telematics

What is Telematics, and What Does it Have to Do with IoT and the Cloud?

By Ben Craker, AGCO Corporation and Precision Ag Council Vice-Chair

It seems you can hardly look through an ag publication or website today without seeing articles about new Internet of Things (IoT) platforms, connected devices and all sorts of things happening in the cloud. The need to feed a growing population and the understanding that technology will help us close the gap laid out in the FAO 2050 Food Challenge has led to an unprecedented level of interest from traditionally non-ag companies in the ag industry. They’re looking to apply their technological expertise to help farmers be more efficient and productive while having a smaller environmental footprint. One of the biggest ways people are looking to advance food production and efficiency is through data analysis, but have you ever stopped to consider where all that data will come from? > Read more...

AgGateway Standards

Simplot Growers Solution EDI Standardization

By Amanda Flemmer, CF Industries

Note: CF Industries and Simplot are trading partners and work together on eConnectivity projects.

The ability to seamlessly exchange data is crucial throughout the supply chain to increase efficiencies and productivity. AgGateway provides a forum within a safe, anti-trust compliant environment where essential dialogue and efforts to fuel this information revolution are taking place. Coming together as a group to create guidelines for enabling and implementing eConnectivity and eBusiness has been invaluable. At many companies, IT typically drives the initiative of eConnectivity, but support from the business is crucial for success. As we make strides to improve and enable eConnectivity as an industry, we also need to focus on improving the partnership between IT and the business. > Read more...

Precision Ag

InfoAg 2017: Developers Should Plan Ahead on New Resources for Farm and Grain Operations

By Susan Ruland, AgGateway Communications Director

AgGateway once again shared a booth with the Agricultural Industry Electronics Foundation (AEF); l to r: Benjamin Jefferson (AEF), Mark Schmutzler (AEF) and Brent Kemp (AgGateway)

AgGateway had a message for software and system developers at InfoAg in St. Louis last month: Make implementation plans now for the industry-wide solutions for interoperability and traceability that AgGateway teams have been working on. These standards, implementation guidelines and associated documentation serve as a means to significantly boost the ability of growers, advisors and grain handlers to leverage data in their operations.

“This is a win-win for solution providers and – mostly – for growers and grain handlers, who are seeking systems that can interact easily so they can better use data to increase productivity and profitability in their operations,” said Jeremy W. Wilson, Technology Specialist at Crop IMS and Chair of AgGateway’s Precision Ag Council. “A great deal of work has been done by AgGateway teams in the past 2-3 years, and now it’s time for developers to plan for the implementation of these solutions – most of which are free and publicly available for all to benefit from. We also welcome any and all new members to AgGateway to continue contributing ideas and skills to advance eConnectivity in our industry.” > Read more...

New Member

Welcome Myriad Mobile

By Kristin Nottingham, Software Solutions Integrated, LLC

Agriculture is one of the top focuses of Myriad Mobile, a mobile technology company that works with leading global agriculture companies to provide mobile and web technology solutions. Myriad Mobile has been in business since 2011 and is based out of Fargo, ND. It began as a group of individuals who were heavily interested in working with the ag industry to build mobile technology solutions for this sector. In June 2017, Myriad launched its first product, Bushel, a mobile app platform for elevators and cooperatives to connect with their growers and deliver real-time actionable information via a mobile app. > Read more...

Leadership Award

Get Your Leadership Nominations in Now!

By Susan Ruland, AgGateway Communications Director

It’s time to get your nomination in to recognize a great AgGateway leader. AgGateway’s Ron Storms Leadership Award recognizes one member each year for outstanding volunteer leadership achievement in promoting our mission. This is considered the highest honor given to an AgGateway member. Nominations are due September 15. To make a nomination, simply fill out the form on the Ron Storms Award webpage. A panel of recent award recipients will choose the recipient, who will be announced at the AgGateway Annual Conference in San Diego.

AGIIS Update

Helpful Tips for the AGIIS User

By Chris Crutchfield, AgGateway Member Services

Built into the Ag Industry Identification System (AGIIS) are a set of business rules that help maintain the integrity of data that enters the database. These rules help prevent duplicates, ensure valid addresses and naming conventions and enforce entity survivorship rules. When a new entity is added or an existing entity is updated, AGIIS uses these business rules to determine if the submission requires a manual review, or a human set of eyes, if you will. If so, the submission is routed to AgGateway’s Member Services, where the Directory Administrator examines the submission and makes a final determination to accept or reject the entity. > Read more...

AIDC Working Group

Four Ways Barcodes Improve Operations

By Jody Costa, Barcoding, Inc. and Allied Providers Council Chair


The following article was taken from the Barcoding, Inc., blog. To visit the blog, click here.

From the receiving dock to the shipping door, barcode data collection provides direct benefits to labor productivity, production control, operational costs, customer service, space requirements and inventory management. Here are four ways barcodes can help improve warehousing and distribution operations.

What Benefits Can You Receive from Deploying Barcodes in Your Warehouse or Distribution Center?

  1. Streamline Shipping and Receiving: Whether you receive shipments with barcodes applied by suppliers, or if you need to print and apply labels for internal use, barcodes provide a way to monitor the flow of inputs. Labels identify the item, purchase order number, supplier, lot number, date of delivery and more. This information is then used to create a receiving and purchasing record which becomes part of the material’s history and provides lot traceability throughout its lifecycle. Barcode labels are often mandatory when shipping items. Barcode label software can integrate with your database systems to conveniently and efficiently generate barcode labels. Once the shipment is in transit, barcode labels provide an effective means of tracking packages and collecting proof of delivery.
> Read more...

AgGateway News

AgGateway in the News

By Kristin Nottingham, Software Solutions Integrated, LLC

AgGateway member companies discuss what they are doing to tackle certain industry issues.

eConnectivity Helps Retailers Reduce Seed Shrink and Serve Farmers Better, Farm Journal’s AgPro – July 7, 2017; To transition to the electronic barcoding system, Ceres purchased hardware and software and tapped into an AgGateway directory called AGIIS to interface with manufacturers…. “We have seen a return on investment as high as 50-to-1 annually, just in shrink,” [Randy] Fry says. “It only takes about 10 to 12 bags of seed corn lost in a year to pay for the technology.”

ADAPT: Getting devices to all sing from the same sheet, Farm World – July 2017 – Making it easier for farmers to access key data about their operations from a variety of sources is the goal of AgGateway and its ADAPT framework.

AgGateway’s ADAPT Nears Completion, AgWired – Aug 2, 2017; Brent Kemp, Executive VP of AgGateway, and Mark Stelford from Premier Crop Systems and ADAPT committee chair attended last week’s Info Ag Conference in St. Louis to spread the word [about ADAPT].

Making data collection and use easier, Farm Industry News – July 12, 2017; Conservis is integrating with the John Deere Operations Center using the AgGateway ADAPT framework. This is an industry developed common platform for data sharing, and the first implementation of the system by the company. Using the common platform, however, opens the door for Conservis to work with others in the industry, as well.