Ag industry commits to data sharing

The Agricultural Industry Electronics Foundation (AEF), a global non-profit organization founded to improve cross-manufacturer compatibility in agricultural equipment, announced its member companies have committed to developing the Agricultural Interoperability Network (AgIN), a new cloud-based network designed to give agribusinesses an improved way to exchange data through a standardized cloud connection.

Cloud computing, which allows data to be uploaded, analyzed and stored, has evolved quickly, but the multitude of separate solutions have often resulted in integration issues, incompatibilities and operational complexity, AEF noted.

“The agricultural industry has struggled to make it easy for farmers to transition to a digital world,” said Norbert Schlingmann, general manager, AEF. “This has slowed the adoption of digital technology on a global level, impeding the productivity, efficiency and profitability of farming operations.”

He said the commitment by member companies to the AgIN initiative shows an industry-wide dedication to make this digital leap together by providing the framework to foster collaboration between members, partners and related initiatives. Members companies may join the AgIN network with their existing clouds and access each other’s services on a peer-to-peer basis, ensuring data flows securely through the entire network. Each participant will continue to host its own platform and service and will gain access to connect with other AgIN participants, AEF explained. They will also have access to the guidelines and templates.

Member companies that have currently committed to the AgIN initiative include: Actia Italia, Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), AGCO, AgGateway, Argo Tractors, Amazone, Bosch Rexroth, CLAAS, CNHi, dev4Agriculture, Dinamica Generale, DKE-Data, Horsch, John Deere, Krone, Kubota / Kverneland, Kuhn, SDF, NEXT Farming, OSB connagtiv, Pöttinger, Rauch, Trimble, VDMA Agricultural Machinery, Walvoil and xFarm.

Curt Blades, senior vice president, AEM, expressed his belief in the power of cross-sector collaboration and industry-wide consensus standardization. “AEF’s AgIN project is a clear solution to ensure machine interoperability through data exchange compatibility,” he commented. “This will allow farmers to select the most efficient and sustainable solutions for their unique needs.”

“The AgIN initiative overcomes the most significant hurdle of digitized agriculture – the incompatible exchange of task and telemetry data from different manufacturers and service providers,” said Roland Schmidt, vice president marketing, AGCO-Fendt. “It marks a milestone in the interoperability of mixed fleets, their monitoring and the documentation of agricultural activities. Farmers and contractors will profit most. The benefit for them is even bigger than the effect of ISOBUS, which is the global standard for data exchange between machines.”

The ISObus transformation Ag, construction equipment engineers collaborate for future standard