The AE50 is an awards program that recognizes the top product advancements in agriculture, food, and biological systems for the year. The winners are chosen by a panel of expert engineers who use criteria that emphasize innovation, engineering advancement, and market impact as the deciding factors. The ASABE recognized the winners during a luncheon held at the Agricultural Equipment Technology Conference in Louisville, Kentucky.

“We are honoured to be recognized with an esteemed AE50 award for AgIN.

Accessing information across different clouds today is a challenge. With AgIN, farmers can get access to data via the cloud of their choice from other systems.”

says Norbert Schlingmann, General Manager, AEF.

The AgIN network is a new peer-to-peer solution for agribusinesses to share data across the industry. It aims to foster collaboration between agricultural actors who have agreed to make their cloud platforms interoperable. AgIN will establish a state-of-the-art data space for agricultural data, providing a foundation for this purpose.

AEF member companies committed to the AgIN initiative include: Actia Italia, AEM, AGCO, AgGateway, Argo Tractors, Amazone, Bosch Rexroth, CLAAS, CNHi, dev4Agriculture, Dinamica Generale, DKE-Data, Horsch, John Deere, Krone, Kubota/Kverneland, Kuhn, SDF, NEXT Farming, OSB connective, Pöttinger, Rauch, Trimble, VDMA Agricultural Machinery, Walvoil, and farm.

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Marking a milestone in ag-tech history, High-Speed ISOBUS (HSI) was demonstrated for the first time by the Agricultural Industry Electronics Foundation (AEF) at its North American 2022 Plugfest during the Commodity Classic trade show in New Orleans. With greater bandwidth and faster connection speed, roughly 4,000 times faster than the original technology, HSI will open new opportunities for innovation and serve the industry far into the future, as even more performance and automation are demanded.

“We are proud to see this major moment in the history of precision agriculture come to life by demonstrating HSI for the first time in the world. HSI will deliver greater precision for the future, and that precision will help reduce the amounts of fertilizer and chemicals, improve agronomy, and allow companies to offer products that support sustainability.”

said Norbert Schlingmann, General Manager, AEF.

The team demonstrated the new HSI network with digital cameras and monitors, as well as an implement and an existing tractor display.

Originally unveiled 20 years ago, ISOBUS refers to the ISO 11783 standard “nervous system” of agricultural equipment that seamlessly connects tractors to implements and aftermarket options such as displays and joysticks, etc. With ISOBUS, machines work together as a system better than each component can work on its own. The current ISOBUS delivers enough performance for today’s applications while allowing precision ag software engineers to design HSI for the future.

“ISOBUS is still serving the industry very well and will continue to do so for years to come, but the industry has recognized that ISOBUS is holding back the development of far more demanding systems that aim for higher performance and accuracy of control,”

said Andrew Olliver, Vice Chairman, AEF.

Examples of future technologies using HSI will include higher performance command and control at the row-level on a large planter or for the individual nozzles on a sprayer; higher performance of User Interface to see the exact state of every row in real-time, whereas today the operator may see screen updates that are somewhat lagging; remote process viewing with more advanced digital cameras replacing the analog of yesteryear, easily integrated into an HSI system; enabling higher levels of automation; improving diagnostics and faster software updates; connectivity to other in-field machines using AEF Wireless Infield Communications, and more.

AEF’s annual Plugfest is co-located this year at the Commodity Classic in New Orleans, providing an opportunity for ag equipment software engineers from all over the world to test the compatibility of their ISOBUS products, putting aside competition and working together for the good of the agricultural industry. At the end of the event, attendees will have new data and a deep understanding of how to improve their products.

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The Agricultural Industry Electronics Foundation (AEF) announced today that its annual North American 2022 Plugfest will take place during the Commodity Classic in New Orleans, March 9th -11th at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The Plugfest will provide an opportunity for ag equipment software engineers from all over the world to test the compatibility of their ISOBUS products, putting aside competition and working together for the good of the agricultural industry.

ISOBUS is a communication protocol meant to standardize the communication systems on ag equipment from different manufacturers. However, due to its complexity, the ISO 11783 standard has been interpreted by each manufacturer slightly differently.  AEF Plugfests began in 2001 to help engineers test products under development, and ensure that manufacturers of tractors, implements and components were interpreting the standard in a compatible way.

The 2022 Plugfest will allow engineers to connect their ISOBUS products together, checking to see if their products can communicate with each other. At the end of the event, all attendees will have new data and a deep understanding of how to improve their products.

“The Plugfest is a bit like ECU speed dating,”

said Andrew Olliver, Vice Chairman, AEF.

“You get a whole bunch of engineers in the room sitting at dozens of tables, and every half an hour, the buzzer goes and a new ISO partner from another company sits down to connect their ISOBUS products to see if they ‘speak the same language.’ It’s a great opportunity for anybody developing an ISOBUS product to see if their product is compatible with the majority of ISOBUS products on the market.”

The partnership between the AEF and the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) facilitated the opportunity for the Plugfest to be held in conjunction with the progressive Commodity Classic agriculture trade show, providing an opportunity for dealers, farmers and manufacturers to see the cooperation that occurs in solving core technology problems affecting the ag industry today, and how working together is the key to creating better solutions.

“The spirit of communication and collaboration that you see at a Plugfest from competitors is really quite extraordinary,”

said Olliver.

“It’s not about sharing company secrets, but about agreeing on a common language, a common standard, a common software so that when our competitive pieces of equipment are plugged together in the field, they deliver what the customer truly wants.”

“Most folks would be surprised to know that competing equipment manufacturers come together year-round to work towards brand compatibility so that their farmer customers’ operations can run more smoothly and efficiently,”

said Anita Sennett, AEF Secretary and AEM Senior Director of Agriculture.

“Plugfest is the culmination of those efforts, and AEM is pleased to help provide the opportunity for farmers and dealers to see the manufacturers in action and have a dialogue with some of the engineers while at Commodity Classic.”

The Plugfest is a biannual event held in the United States and Europe to test the protocol defined in the ISO 11783 standard. The event attracts hundreds of attendees and participants. AEF member companies typically attending Plugfest include AGCO, Case IH, CLAAS, John Deere, New Holland and SAME DEUTZ-FAHR, among others.

Dealers, farmers and other show attendees may peek behind the curtain to see the industry’s cooperative spirit at work finding solutions to solve their biggest tech problems. For a tour of the New Orleans Plugfest, please contact america@aef-online.org for available dates and times.

For more information about AEF, please visit: www.aef-online.org.

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The Agricultural Industry Electronics Foundation (AEF) announced today the release of the TC-GEO Conformance Test for Farm Management Information Systems (FMIS). This enhancement ensures that boundaries and prescription maps created in the FMIS are in compliance with the ISO standard, guaranteeing plug-and-play compatibility with tractor displays.

“Until today, we have never been able to certify the actual FMIS. It’s been the missing piece and has been the pain point for a lot of farmers,”

said Andrew Olliver, Vice Chairman, AEF.

The new test covers most of the FMIS’s features giving customers and dealers confidence that the FMIS is working in compliance with the ISO standard. Because the FMIS has to be capable of managing farms and fields, as well as planning and listing accomplished tasks, the TC-GEO functionality adds the handling of field boundaries and prescription maps.

The AEF database is a trusted resource uniquely developed to provide transparent and reliable information about ISOBUS product compatibility. ISOBUS is an important part of precision agriculture technology which allows machines from different manufacturers to work together electronically. Only products that are AEF ISOBUS certified are listed in the AEF ISOBUS database.

“If you look up a certified display and a certified implement in the AEF database, you know they will work together, and you can use that functionality in the field. Now you can add a certified FMIS to that combination,”

said Olliver.

FMIS manufacturers should certify their software for the TC GEO functionality through the AEF conformance test as soon as possible. Once certified, it can appear in the AEF database.

All certified FMIS software can be found in the AEF ISOBUS Database under the category “Software,” subcategory “Farm Management Information System.” Through the “Compatibility Check” feature in the AEF ISOBUS Database, customers and dealers can verify which FMIS products are supporting the desired functionalities.

“The AEF is continuing to improve the world of agricultural technology by making it more compatible. Every time we extend the AEF conformance test to another functionality, or another component in the ISOBUS chain, we are moving towards our ideal of 100% compatibility and every product being ISOBUS certified,”

said Olliver.

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The Agricultural Industry Electronics Foundation (AEF) announced today it is introducing the updated AEF ISOBUS Database (DB) app to give agricultural equipment dealers, manufacturers, and end-users a convenient way to access its database, the only comprehensive repository of all ISOBUS compatible products in the world. Users may now easily drill down by brand, product, or ISOBUS functionality to confirm product compatibility while in the office or in the field, for free.

“With so many different manufacturers creating a wide scope of agricultural products around the world, when you start using different brands together, they are not always technologically compatible. However, when products all share the same ‘nerve system,’ more commonly known as the ‘ISOBUS,’ they communicate seamlessly. The AEF ISOBUS DB app identifies which products on the market are compatible and are ISOBUS-certified,”

said Andrew Olliver, Vice Chairman, AEF.

Through the AEF’s app, the agricultural equipment community may now look up a product’s ISOBUS compatibility, find information if a customer is having trouble in the field, research ISOBUS compatibility of new equipment and accessories, or identify ISOBUS functions. Information can be shared with others through the app using messaging tools such as WhatsApp or email.

Only products that are AEF ISOBUS certified are listed in the AEF ISOBUS Database. Currently, there are approximately 80 companies listing their certified ISOBUS products in the database, a number that keeps growing.

“This is an incredibly useful tool, especially for ag equipment dealers, when they have to advise their customers on their next ISOBUS equipment purchase. Dealers will find the app’s new module and option views essential,”

said Olliver.

In the app’s module view, users can view detailed information about ISOBUS products, such as the individual controllers to see exactly which functionality they support. This helps dealers make product recommendations, as well as diagnose service compatibility issues.

The options view provides the ability to view the compatibility of multiple product features.

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Ryan Milligan, Head of North American Marketing and Communication, AEF, said:

“For the first time in the agricultural industry, this system enables secure, industry-leading communication between tractors and implements from different manufacturers. This is significant because this solution forms the basis for future-oriented developments in the entire field of agricultural engineering. And for the farmer, it means a big savings of both time and money.“

TIM, a cross-product and cross-manufacturer ISOBUS solution where the implement controls certain tractor functions and optimizes the working process, sends information to the tractor via standardized and secure communication which leads to an optimization of the overall system. The field operation becomes technically simpler and easier as TIM takes overtiring and repetitive tasks.

Curt Blades, senior vice president of Agriculture for AEM, said:

“We’re excited about the advancement of ag engineering and the positive impacts it continues to have on farmers’ ability to work more efficiently. The three products deliver on solutions that truly represent the spirit of J.B. Davidson and the innovative legacy of agriculture.”

The Davidson Prize is named for J.B. Davidson, the father of modern agricultural engineering. It gives a nod to the storied past of agricultural engineering and pays homage to those engineers, like J.B. Davidson, who aspire to find a better way. Winners were selected from the AE50 honorees, announced at the Agricultural Equipment Technology Conference earlier this year in Louisville.

Darrin Drollinger, executive director at ASABE, said:

“In the fall of 2017, ASABE and AEM came together to create a new award to further celebrate innovation in agriculture and bring additional recognition to those who embody the spirit of J.B. Davidson. The products featured represent the diversity of agricultural engineering, as well as the variety of companies that continue to bring advanced technology and exciting improvements to the marketplace. J.B. Davidson would be amazed at how advanced farm equipment has become.”

The award was presented in San Antonio, Texas during the Commodity Classic.

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