Membership Has its Benefits

Benefits of eConnectivity

Membership Has its Benefits

By Chris Crutchfield, AgGateway Member Services

AgGateway Member Services fields all kinds of questions from prospective members. The one that comes up most often is, “By becoming a member of AgGateway, what is the value and benefit for my organization?” This is an important question and one that deserves a thorough answer, not only for prospective members, but also for our current members that want to get more out of their AgGateway membership. So let me highlight some of the value and benefits that an AgGateway membership brings.

With volunteers from 200 member organizations, AgGateway provides the forum where ag industry professionals can come together to solve some of the industry’s toughest challenges. In doing so, relationships with trading partners are strengthened and often, new business relationships are forged. Whether through regularly scheduled conference calls, or during the two annual face-to-face meetings hosted by AgGateway, members are given great opportunities to network, as well as a unique forum that allows them to work collaboratively under AgGateway’s anti-trust policy and guidelines.

Being a member of AgGateway allows companies to have a voice and shape new standards and processes that best fit their organization’s needs. Not only do members have an equal voice in the development of AgGateway standards, they are also the first in the industry with access to these standards and will know how to leverage them for maximum benefit to their organization.

Access to resources that are widely accepted and used in the industry is another benefit of membership. Take for example the Ag Industry Identification System (AGIIS), which is a subscriber-owned database that houses unique identifiers widely used in the industry to facilitate electronic communications between trading partners. All members receive a free search/view subscription to AGIIS as a member benefit. AgGateway members often share the benefits they’ve realized by being an AGIIS subscriber – such as less manual data entry, better use of human resources, more efficient and accurate data management, better traceability and cost savings, etc. For more information, I encourage you to visit the AGIIS page on the AgGateway website. Here you will find testimonials, videos, fact sheets and several other resources to help get you started.

For more information on becoming an AgGateway member, please visit our website, www.AgGateway.org, or contact Member Services at Member.Services@AgGateway.org. You can also call us at +1 (866) 251-8618.

We are happy to answer all your questions, and we look forward to helping you reap the benefits of your membership in AgGateway!