Syngenta technology professionals are working on an industry project, known as SPADE, that will power a huge leap forward for agriculture.
By Suzanne Bopp / Illustration by Todd Detwiler
Today, nearly every phase of agriculture creates large amounts of
data. That abundance of information allows growers to be more
efficient than ever before, but translating the reams of data into
actionable information can be overwhelming to the grower, especially
when the various applications and devices involved don't communicate
with each other. As the farming technology landscape becomes more
complex, this challenge will only grow. "A lot of data may go unused
because it's just too difficult to move around," says Shannon
Haringx, data strategy and asset lead for Syngenta.
That concern has inspired a massive project called Standardized
Precision Ag Data Exchange (SPADE). "The goal is to streamline data
exchange across the ag industry," Haringx says. In addition to helping
on-farm systems communicate effectively, SPADE aims to make it easier
for growers to share data, if they choose, with their trusted advisers,
suppliers and other valued partners, who often all use different systems.
Seamless Communication
SPADE is the creation of AgGateway, a nonprofit consortium of over 200
ag companies, including Syngenta, as well as suppliers of hardware,
software, inputs, services, implements and vehicles. AgGateway members
collaborate on enabling and expanding e-business in agriculture.
SPADE's first objective was to create and publish standards and
guidelines that could be widely shared throughout the industry and
incorporated into future systems. To make this useful on the ground
today, an initiative originating out of SPADE, called ADAPT (Ag Data
Application Programming Toolkit), offers software and
tools to help with current data-exchange challenges.
"We are trying to bring everything together into a common format with
SPADE," says Andres Ferreyra, special projects manager for Ag
Connections, a software company and SPADE member. "Also, we're making
software libraries that will give folks a tool to convert between their
own proprietary formats and the common format. ADAPT is that tool."
ADAPT is expected to reach the market this summer, says Jim Wilson,
AgGateway standards director and SPADE project manager. "ADAPT is
nothing you would see, but something the things you use could leverage,"
he says. "You have all sorts of equipment, as well as software and
information systems that all have proprietary formats. ADAPT is like a
universal translator that will be available free to the industry, so any
device-maker can use it as a piece of their application."
Grower Benefits
All of these initiatives will help growers directly. "Say a farmer
plants Syngenta seed," Wilson says. "As that unfolds, data is collected
and records are generated and stored on onboard systems. When he syncs
up with a farm-management information system (FMIS), ADAPT can take the
data from the equipment and transform it into a format that the FMIS
recognizes. Maybe the source system reports in pounds, and the receiving
system requires kilos; or the source system uses local time and the
receiving system universal coordinated time. ADAPT will overcome such
incompatibilities."
Another plus: Many growers use equipment from more than one
manufacturer, and ADAPT will make it easier for them to manage those
mixed fleets. "That's currently very complicated," Ferreyra says.
"Grower need a plethora of software packages that they need to be
proficient in. This is especially true when you get into irrigation."
That's why AgGateway also created Precision Ag Irrigation Leadership
(PAIL), an irrigation-specific sister project of SPADE. "Different
irrigation manufacturers have their own telemetry systems, and you need
a proprietary package from each manufacturer," says Ferreyra. "The
results of PAIL enable users to manage these things in a more holistic
way."
ADAPT will not only help compile information from a grower's existing
data, but it also will help a grower's FMIS talk to new equipment,
simplifying onboarding. "All it will take is for that manufacturer to
write a plug-in, and it should be able to come right into the
farm-management system via ADAPT's common format," Ferreyra says.
Because SPADE/PAIL-based systems will generate documentation easily,
regulatory compliance will be more efficient and accurate. These systems
will also simplify crop insurance reporting, traceability and
sustainability assessments, because those data requirements have been
taken into consideration. "We're also evaluating future needs of the
industry, such as increased food safety, and how all this data will need
to be more enabled to meet the demands," Haringx says.
While SPADE itself doesn't raise new privacy concerns, the subject of
data exchange makes such concerns seem more relevant. SPADE creators are
mindful of that. "We're not getting into who to give the data to; we're
just trying to standardize formats," says Ferreyra. "Even so, we created
a Data Security and Privacy Committee within AgGateway to be in front of
the issue and make recommendations to the industry."
Perhaps SPADE's most important benefit is the recognition by a variety
of industry stakeholders that systems need to interface, while data
remains private, Haringx says. "There is no intention to collect or
control farm data through these projects. We're simply establishing
industry standards that will make it easier for farmers to utilize and
exchange their data across technologies incorporating these standards.
It benefits the farmer for us to find this common ground."
Syngenta is committed to ensuring the protection and confidentiality of
grower information. For any Syngenta program in which farm data is
collected, the grower, not the company, determines what, when and with
whom information about his or her operation is shared.
