AgGateway Accomplishments and Looking Forward

eConnectivity Matters

AgGateway Accomplishments and Looking Forward

By Doug Farrington, Syngenta and 2018 Strategic Board Chair

[Excerpted from remarks made at the Annual Conference in November]

A lot of great work was done in 2017 – We are working on important ag issues! Here is just a partial summary of what was accomplished this year:

Ag Retail Council:  Published implementation and ROI case studies, successfully developed and presented a retailer forum at the Mid-Year Meeting.

Allied Providers Council: Invited guest speakers at each meeting and helped with participation in council meetings.

Crop Nutrition Council: Extending implementation in connectivity by aligning crop nutrition connectivity business rules with EDI messages. A working group to match up XML and X12 mapping has completed alignment of ship notice.

Crop Protection Council: Significant progress in the Multiple GLNs and Warehouse Task Force. Product Directory Task Force is moving forward. Kickoff of a task force to focus on ongoing pain points of the council.

Grain & Feed Council:  Successfully implemented and promoted the proof of concept for the CART grain traceability project in October.

Precision Ag Council: CART proof of concept, SPADE phase 3 wrapping up, and PAIL irrigation project in its final stages. Also, companies are building connections for the ADAPT interoperability framework.

Seed Council:  Held “Quick Connect” session to boost connections, and a Mid-Year Meeting presentation on seed connectivity. Also, inroads made working with the Ag Retailers Association. Beginning AGIIS Synchronization Working Group.

Specialty Chemical Council: Proof of concept of inventory and sales flat file implementation between a manufacturer, distributor and allied provider is close to a successful conclusion. More participation scenarios are being developed for 2018.

Now…looking forward to 2018…

First, a story about Francis Chadwick, daughter of a San Diego policeman, and first woman to swim the English Channel both directions. In 1952 at 34 years old, she attempted to swim from the California coast to Catalina island (21 miles). The day of the swim there was a heavy fog, ice cold water, the tide and the waves were rough and against her, and there were sharks in the water. At daylight she decided to go anyway, and her mom and coach shadowed her in a support boat. After 10+ hours she declared she could not go any further and wanted to come in the boat. Her coach persuaded her to keep going. After 15 hours and 55 minutes, she said she had no strength left to continue and wanted to come in the boat. They dragged her into the boat. And then the fog lifted. There was Catalina island, just a half mile away. Francis’ words were “If I could have seen it, I could have made it.”

The point I make is that you have to have a vision, you have to be able to see where you are going to continue all of the hard work you are doing.

AgGateway’s Strategic Board has worked hard in 2017 to refresh the vision and mission of AgGateway, along with the 5-year strategy, and the 2018 objectives and tactics. I encourage each of us to connect whatever work we are doing within the councils, committees and projects to our vision and strategy, and to really understand how our work is aligned to and supports these ideas. I also challenge each of you to spend 5 minutes envisioning what’s possible, and, what we will be saying about your team’s achievements at the 2018 Annual Conference.