Getting Ready for the Digitally Connected Farm

Every year, the precision agriculture industry gathers in St. Louis for an event called InfoAg. While not many farmers attend, just about every precision ag company, from major OEM to start-up, shows up to network and collaborate. A quick walk around the exhibition can give you a good indication of where the industry is heading. This year, the theme of total farm management software and API (Application Programming Interface) data connections was definitely “in the air”…that, and the sweet smell of the local barbeque.

For many growers and dealers, Farm Management Information Systems (FMISs) and farming equipment are seen as completely separate purchases. But, from where I stand, there are three important reasons why you may want to consider starting a conversation with your local equipment dealer:

1. 1. The standardization of agronomic and machine data has been the holy grail of precision ag, but, as an industry, we are not there yet. But companies are starting to work with each other and across the industry via API’s. The use of Application Programming Interfaces or APIs will allow a number of precision ag companies to share information with each other without forcing immediate consolidation of the various systems. This means you are not stuck with any one software, brand, or service provider.

1. 1. Use of variable rate planting and fertilizing is becoming mainstream. Variable rate is expected to be the fastest growing technology through 2022, growing to 2.24 Billon from the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 9.65% in 2017. Farmers will need a FMIS to manage the prescription map, as-applied, and yield data more so than before. Think about what level of support you may want from your local dealer when it comes to importing and exporting data between your FMIS and equipment.

1. 1. Growers will become more and more dependent on their FMIS because of the operational impact and linkage to their business systems, such as record keeping, work order management, logistic planning, etc. Someday, in the not-too-distant future, compatibility to a FMIS may become a key qualifier for any equipment purchase. AGCO has recently introduced a universal data management tool, Fuse Agro-Link™, to support our customers.

While FMIS’s will not take over the agriculture industry over night, especially at their current price points, FMISs are only going to become more and more mission critical as the ability to gather, share and store data becomes part of farming. Start a dialogue with your local AGCO dealer today.

Written By: Matt Wong, Director of Fuse Product Strategy in North America. Connect with Matt on Twitter @mcwong1999 or LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/mcwong1999/

To learn more about Fuse, please visit FuseSmartFarming.com.