Deere-Funded Precision Data Standards Pilot Will Debut At AgGateway Conference

When it comes to the development of precision agriculture data standards, John Mann has been through the mill on more than one occasion and come up empty. But a pilot project funded by his current employer, John Deere, and supported by the likes of Monsanto, Syngenta, and AGCO, could be his best last chance to move the industry in that direction.

Deere has invested $225,000 on the six-month development project using ag software developer ZedX, Inc. as the contractor. The first version of the pilot will be demonstrated at the AgGateway Annual Conference in Las Vegas during the week of November 8.

AgGateway is the third party consortium of agriculture manufacturers and organizations that has been facilitating the creation of data standards across virtually all segments of the industry, including seed and crop protection. At the 2010 annual conference, a committee was formed to focus on data standards for precision agriculture. And at Ag Gateway’s mid-year meeting this past summer, Mann, along with his colleagues at Deere and a select number of industry partners, brought the idea of a collaborative, Deere-funded pilot project to the Precision Agriculture committee.

If all goes well, the project will demonstrate the ability to exchange and collect information from product and equipment manufacturers that will allow  the more seamless creation of prescription maps that are fully compatible with equipment used by participants in the pilot test and eventually the industry. Ultimately, the goal is to eliminate incompatibility across lines of equipment and software and offer growers, consultants and agronomists the ability to operate more effectively in a way that’s in a color- and brand-neutral. Then, once completed, Deere intends to turn the certification and operational efforts of the system over to AgGateway.

I will be at the AgGateway conference and on hand for the demonstration, where the Deere and the partners involved hope to garner wider industry support and constructive feedback on the project. It will still be some time in development before it would be fully deployed, but a successful pilot would go a long way toward making it a reality.

Look for an update in next week’s eNews from the AgGateway conference.