Committee Descriptions

Owned by Eric Hinsdale (Unlicensed)
Last updated: 2021-06-10
5 min read

Interested in joining a Committee? Just ask Member Services for more information – Member.Services@AgGateway.org.

Following are descriptions for the current 6 standing committees of AgGateway:

  • ADAPT Oversight

  • Architecture

  • Communications

  • Conference

  • AGIIS Directory Oversight

  • Standards & Guidelines

ADAPT Oversight Committee

Mission

The key deliverable of the committee is a production-level, open source toolkit for use by the precision ag industry: AgGateway’s ADAPT (Agricultural Data Application Programming Toolkit). The committee is open to any AgGateway member company. The American Farm Bureau, Corn Growers, Soybean Association and a number of other major grower organizations issued a letter in fall 2016 endorsing ADAPT; the Ag Retailers Association (ARA) has also encouraged adoption of ADAPT. In 2019 AgGateway’s ADAPT and ISOXML Plugin were awarded the 2019 Davidson Prize, selected as one of the top three innovations of the year by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) and the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE).

Current Work - 2021

The ADAPT team is working to prepare the underlying data model to propose as a global standard. We believe this step will increase the adoption of this free, open source software even more.

The committee is encouraging the implementation of ADAPT by software companies, and the formation of a global community of software developers. A key requirement for cooperating OEMs is global implementation of ADAPT. 

The technically inclined can monitor progress of ADAPT improvements at

https://github.com/ADAPT/ADAPT .  More information can be found at http://adaptframework.org .

 

Architecture Committee

Mission

The Architecture Committee's mission is to be AgGateway's primary source of architecture-related resources supporting AgGateway projects and other activities, to provide education on architecture-related topics, and to communicate to AgGateway's leadership best practices for technology adoption.

Background

The committee identifies best practices, disruptive industry trends, and the best technologies to support the business imperative of digital agriculture. This, in turn, serves to create greater alignment between the technical aspects of AgGateway’s standards and guidelines and the business concerns that they’re designed to address. With rapidly changing technology options, more types of standards and guidelines, and cross-industry and standards group collaboration requirements, the Architecture Committee allows AgGateway to proceed in a formal and consistent manner on these issues.

 

Communications Committee

Mission

To communicate to members, potential members and the industry the benefits of involvement in AgGateway and eConnectivity. The committee is responsible for managing the monthly newsletter, website and social media, as well as reviewing and contributing to annual communications plans. The committee is involved in all efforts to spread the word about upcoming activities, AgGateway successes and future projects. AgGateway members are welcome to bring ideas, issues or requests to the committee for our support and action.

Communications Resources

We maintain a Communications Kit on the AgGateway website with a full range of communications tools to assist members and prospective members. Some recently published resources include:

  • 2020 Annual Report

  • Graphic explainer video – a 2-min., entertaining look at how AgGateway helps with process efficiency.

  • Video testimonials from members

  • Soil lab testing – flyer

  • Crop Protection eConnectivity in Canada - flyer

  • Spanish and Portuguese AgGateway brochure and other materials

  • Monthly Newsletter

  • See the Communications Kit for these and other resources.

Social Media Task Force

The committee’s Social Media Task Force regularly posts messages to social media platforms. We are currently active on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. We ask AgGateway members to “Follow” and “Join” on these platforms. Content for posts comes from all AgGateway committees and groups, as well as newsletter articles. Part of keeping relevant content on social media is getting the fresh updates and the latest information from members. Types of messages can include:

·       Accomplishments
·       Releases of documentation
·       Progress on connectivity work
·       Updates from Working Groups
·       Any ag-related content that interests you
·       What's happening in the ag industry
·       Conference experiences or upcoming conferences of note.

Send AgGateway messages to post at Social@AgGateway.org.

 

Conference Committee

Mission

To engage and retain members by executing conferences that educate and promote implementation of eConnectivity tools and processes.

2021 Goals

  • Execute Annual Conference, run cost effectively, that is well-respected and well-run

  • Execute “Education & Action Week” as a helpful replacement for the Mid-Year Meeting, given travel restrictions due to the pandemic.

  • Plan ahead for conferences in the next two calendar years where practical. 

  • Engage members from all regions in planning and execution of conferences, and develop meeting best practices to be used across the organization.

  • Identify and solicit speakers of interest to the industry and membership.

  • Refine and expand educational opportunities as part of the annual conference, and enhance knowledge leadership standing of the organization.

  • Manage the sponsorship program in support of the conference; seek to increase sponsorship levels to keep registration costs low.  

2021 Meetings

Education & Action Week

June 14-18

Virtual

 

2021 ANNUAL CONFERENCE

November 8-10

Hilton Nashville Downtown

Nashville, Tennessee, USA

 

AGIIS Directory Oversight Committee

Mission

Establish policies and procedures in the operation of the Ag Industry Identification System (AGIIS), the industry recognized repository of common entity and product information. This includes evaluating, prioritizing and executing enhancements; responding to subscriber and project requests; and overseeing the maintenance and care of the data in the directory.

Committee Protocol

Voting membership of the Directory Oversight Committee (DOC) consists of AGIIS subscribers, each of whom serve three-year terms. Representatives of the AgGateway staff and AGIIS database hosting company sit on the committee as non-voting members. Non-voting advisory positions may also be created as needed.

Any given subscriber member may have only one representative to the DOC at a given time; representatives should be current users familiar with AGIIS. The Digital Resource Center will use a subscriber representation matrix to nominate candidates for voting seats on the DOC. The AgGateway Executive Committee will approve candidates nominated by the Digital Resource Center to serve on the DOC.

In the interest of conducting business efficiently, meetings and conference calls are open only to committee members or invitees. Those who would like to attend a meeting should obtain prior permission from the chair, and their participation may be limited.

AGIIS Plans for 2021

  • Develop educational curriculum on AGIIS APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) on how to use and encourage adoption among subscribers. 

  • Migrate the AGIIS application to a new state-of-the-art data center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The new facility will extend platform life through a complete hardware refresh, and provide increased security services, improved disaster recovery performance and the ability to scale quickly and cost effectively as services grow.

  • Continue to monitor the impact of data privacy rules on AGIIS operations and determine if there are enhancements that can be made to ease compliance for AGIIS subscribers.

  • Evaluate and align the AGIIS GLN re-use policy with the new GS1 GLN re-use policy.  

  • Continue to evaluate and implement rules to enable field-level identification for supply chain, field operations and regulatory processes, to enable the capability to efficiently cross-reference information – supporting data availability and traceability throughout the agriculture chain.

  • Expand the use of the AGIIS product directory to support retail and agronomy needs and requirements.  

  • Execute our regular de-duplication, maintenance and the redundant back-up processes to ensure high quality and high availability of the AGIIS tool to all users at all times.

 

Standards & Guidelines Committee

Mission

The Standards & Guidelines Committee coordinates standards and guidelines development, maintenance and publication. It responds to requests for assistance with standards-related efforts. The Standards & Guidelines Committee reports into the Digital Resource Center. (The Digital Resource Center also includes the following Working Groups focused on the maintenance and improvement of existing digital resources: AgGlossary, Controlled Vocabulary, Reference Data API, and Data Privacy and Security.)

2021 Activities

We will continue to process proposed digital resources and manage published digital resources.

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