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Ag tech engineers gather to test ag innovations

A semi-annual gathering of ag engineers and program developers is sparking ag innovations for the field.

Twice a year the Agricultural Industry Electronics Foundation hosts PlugFest; high-speed ‘dating’ for ag software systems where engineers from ag equipment companies like Case and New Holland gather to check software compatibility across brands.

Ryan Milligan with AEF tells Brownfield the core motivation of PlugFest is making equipment functionality between different companies ‘plug and play’ through a standard programming language known as ISOBUS.

“If you go out and you see an ISOBUS label on your machinery [and] you can use the database to check the functionalities compatibility, it’s a symbol of quality,” he said.

While at this year’s spring event in New Orleans, David Smart, AEF high-speed ISOBUS project team leader and former John Deere engineer, said before the development of a central software language for ag equipment, tractor cabs were pretty cluttered…

“Prior to ISOBUS really taking off, every implement tended to have its own controller and display and harness kit, and the cab would get crowded,” Smart said. “Or the farmer would spend time decommissioning one system as the season changed and bringing the next one into the cabin.”

AEF communicator and marketer Benjamin Jefferson tells Brownfield he’s gone to PlugFests for about a decade saying innovations are still coming from the events…

“As AEF released a functionality called TIM, for Tractor Implement Management, that really is a methodology to allow, in a standards based way, the implements to control tractor functions,” he said.

Jefferson said, for example, implements can control the tractor’s speed and hydraulic flow to optimize tasks like bailing hay. He said TIM is about three years old and now starting to see market adoption.

Smart said PlugFest has come a long way since some of the early events in the 90’s.

“I was told engineers brought a cardboard box with wires sticking out the side and were connecting on the network to test with each other but you’re ‘not allowed to look in the box’ as a competitor,” he said.

He said fast-forwarding to now…

“We know each other; we respect what we can and cannot ask each other about what’s inside your electronics: how does it work, what’s your technology and so forth,” Smart said. “And it’s really a community, in this environment we are a community.”

The next PlugFest event will be held in Bologna, Italy October 17 to 21, 2022.