Agriculture Interoperability Network to simplify data sharing

The Agricultural Industry Electronics Foundation (AEF) has announced the formation of a project team to develop the new Agriculture Interoperability Network (AgIN). The team will be tasked with creating AgIN guidelines for data formats intended to simplify data sharing for end users, growers and operators.

“The ability to manage the farm more effectively revolves around the ease of getting all of the data into the best location for reporting and analysis,” said Andrew Olliver, vice chairman, AEF, “and to derive insights for future operations.”

The project team consists of approximately 60 participants from various AEF member companies from across the globe. AEF members will be able to use AgIN to ensure their data flows through the whole network, said the AEF announcement.

The newly created AgIN will be a “concerted and non-discriminatory governed network that streamlines peer–to-peer interfaces between platforms,” according to AEF. “While there are a number of solutions on the market today which enable multiple platforms to exchange data, there is still no standardized and community governed connection for the agriculture industry,” Olliver noted. “AgIN is really just one level higher than current solutions to bring interconnectivity in the Cloud.”

Participants in the network must be registered members and be certified for conformity for each of the services they want to provide to the network. “When platforms want to connect, they must first do the security handshake to verify that the other platform is certified and for which services,” AEF explained. “Telematics data or task data are just some examples of the services that each platform could be providing or consuming.”

AgIN is scheduled to be introduced at Agritechnica in Hannover, November 2023, after which, AEF members will be given access to begin building their software to the guidelines and standards.