Current trends in sustainability, traceability, and compliance reporting demand that growers report ever-increasing amounts of data to justify their operations. Soil test data is the most commonly used data layer in digital agriculture and drives much agricultural decision-making. Soil test data reporting in commercial and regulatory settings will likely become an industry norm.
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Errors are costly: Trying to scale without data standards is error-prone. Insufficient or excessive application of crop nutrition inputs can affect margins and present the risk of regulatory liability.
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Less friction enables more scalability: Interoperability is a bottleneck. Soil testing is a low-margin activity. Scaling soil test lab operations is difficult in the absence of clearly established standards. (Labs may need to support over 70 data formats.) Making data exchange easier will help labs scale and be more efficient.
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Test turnaround time is a competitive factor: One-week turnaround for soil data is a thing of the past. Fall application happens right behind the combine. Hitting the window of opportunity to collect representative samples and generate test results in time for the application gives laboratories very little time to test.
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Automated data management, from work order generation, sample collection, drying analysis and result distribution, will improve lab efficiency and allow labs to increase their sample throughput. In this competitive environment, labs that offer the quickest turnaround without compromising analysis quality stand out.
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Farm Management Information Systems are important for soil test data management. Enabling grower, advisor and retailer farm management software to produce work orders and consume test results will require automation.
AgGateway recognized these challenges and the importance of addressing them. AgGateway worked with contributors to an ad-hoc group standard-development effort called Modus to take ownership of the Modus resources and make them available to industry according to a specified license.
Find more info at ModusStandard.org including an explanation of the process to propose additions or changes to the standard (e.g., request a new test method).