Ag data from tractors, combines, planters and other farm machinery present a huge opportunity for growers to manage their operations more efficiently, but only if all the sources of that data can communicate. Syngenta is helping to lead a project aimed at doing just that.
The Agricultural Data Application Programming Toolkit (also known as ADAPT) is a project that Ag Gateway, a nonprofit consortium of more than 230 ag businesses, is spearheading. Syngenta and its subsidiary, Ag Connections, are actively engaged members and have played significant roles in the yearslong process of bringing ADAPT to life. Additionally, Premier Crop Systems, a precision ag-data processing and analysis company that Syngenta Ventures recently invested in, is contributing to the project.
Because so much data flows in and out of growers’ farm-management systems today, it can be difficult for them to know what to do with it all, said Andres Ferreyra, manager of special projects at Ag Connections. “How can a rainbow cause problems for growers? When they have equipment that’s green, red, yellow and blue, representing different manufacturers, and none of it speaks the same language,” he said. “ADAPT can help them overcome this language barrier”
Growers enrolled in the Syngenta AgriEdge Excelsior program already have access to ADAPT-compatible farm-management software called Land.db. The software, designed by Ag Connections, allows growers to not only find efficiencies on their own land, but also export complete regulatory reports and share their information with retailers and advisers. This exchange of information gives growers an advantage in an industry with little room for error.
“You can’t harvest a field again if the data is wrong the first time,” said Mark Stelford, general manager of Premier Crop Systems and chair of the ADAPT Oversight Committee. “People can get upset very quickly — and rightly so — if their systems aren’t working well together.”
ADAPT could be a reality for growers nationwide as soon as 2018. Right now, companies are building plug-ins and implementing trial runs to see how the data flows through the system.
