Modus Ag Lab Test Data Standard
Modus Agricultural Lab Test Data Standard
Controlled vocabularies and a standard schema for efficient lab test data exchange.
The new home for original and v2.0 code lists, schemas, and related documentation.
Use these forms to request a change or addition to the Modus code lists.
What do standards have to do with this?
Errors are costly:
Trying to scale without data standards can lead to errors. The insufficient or excessive application of crop nutrition inputs that follow can affect margins and create regulatory liability.
Less friction = more scalability:
Interoperability is a bottleneck: soil testing is a low-margin activity, and scaling becomes very difficult for the soil test laboratories in the absence of clearly established standards (labs currently have to deal with over 70 data formats).
Turnaround is a competitive advantage:
The one-week turnaround for soil data is a thing of the past. Fall application now happens right behind the combine; hitting the window of opportunity to collect representative samples and generate test results in time for the application gives laboratories very little time to test.
Automated data management
From work order generation, sample collection, drying analysis, and result distribution, standardization improve labs’ efficiency and allow them to increase their sample throughput.
Software systems
Enabling grower-, advisor- and retailer-facing software to produce work orders and consume test results will require automation based on accepted standards.
Keeping pace with the industry
Growing needs to track different constituents in the soil for a variety of purposes result in the need for standards to grow and evolve with the industry.
AgGateway has a solution for how to make this work!
Recognizing these challenges and their importance for the success of Digital Agriculture, AgGateway created the Laboratory Data Standardization Working Group. This group’s goal is to partner with the laboratory community and help implement standards and formats that will initially focus on the Modus format that many labs are already using. The first deliverable will be an update to the existing Modus schema creating more consistency and better information for each test method included in the standard. Additionally, AgGateway will provide more transparent governance and licensing enabling broader use of the standard and improved ability to adapt to changes and the needs of the industry.
Change/addition request process