Increasing complexity in agriculture
Agricultural practice is facing major changes and becoming more complex. Climatic changes are leading to a holistic rethinking of agricultural production. In addition, agricultural policies, such as the farm-to-fork strategy, demand a reduction in the use of fertilizers and pesticides, as well as climate- and resource-friendly management of agricultural land. One-size-fits-all solutions are being replaced by site-specific, site-adapted and variable applications of crop protection products and fertilizers. New digital technologies such as spot or row spraying already offer good solutions and enable even more precise and site-adapted applications. The use of biologicals is considered very sustainable, but they can have very different effects depending on the site and conditions to be better understood.
Such new innovations can already be tested in practical farming trials, known as on-farm research. There are clear principles for this, but they are not easy to put into practice. Field trials have been difficult to integrate into everyday work, and proper data management is a major challenge, making trials prone to error.
However, field trials are becoming increasingly important for agribusiness success, extension and product development. In the future, they will be seen as the key to understanding new production ideas and making informed decisions. The need for on-farm trials is growing worldwide. However, there is a lack of an easy-to-use, powerful and secure system to better integrate collected field information with existing machine characteristics.
The ISO Farm Research concept
For this reason, AMAZONE, EXAgT, EXA Computing, geo-konzept, Hanse-Agro, the FH Kiel and the startup AgDoIT have developed the ISO Farm Research concept: a novel and innovative digital system that automates and simplifies field trials (On Farm Research, OFR) based on agricultural data and the ISOBUS standard. ISO Farm Research combines all farm agronomic data into one data pool to create a holistic picture of the farm including FMIS data, soil information and agrotechnical measures. Machine learning is used to automatically create an ideal trial design.
Trials and measurements are consistently verified to field trial standards. ISO Farm Research is vendor neutral and allows integration of existing mix fleets and automation with ISOBUS to ensure accurate placement and trial layout. Machine characteristics are taken into account and each bonit is accurately pre-planned. Drones and sensors can also be used to perform geo-referenced assessments, as well as import crop data and yield mapping from various sources. All trial data is consolidated centrally and evaluated smartly, and can be viewed at any time via app and shared with partners.
ISO Farm Research will be a secure and user-friendly tool to drive knowledge-based transformation in the agricultural technology industry and help farmers make their operations more efficient, sustainable and competitive.
About AgDoIT
We believe there is a suitable solution for every challenge. But which is the right one for your own business?
Find out. With practical trials directly on site - smart and secure: That is ISO Farm Research.
With this concept we want to provide a decisive impulse for the future viability of crop production worldwide. We are Ann-Christin Elsner, Christoph Ratke and Claas Hilbrecht and we founded AgDoIT GmbH to implement the concept ISO Farm Research, which we developed together with our partners AMAZONE, EXAgT, EXA Computing, geo-konzept, Hanse-Agro and the Faculty of Agriculture of the Kiel University of Applied Sciences.
Ann-Christin (Co-Founder, COO):
Ann-Christin studied agricultural sciences at the University of Göttingen and runs a farm with her husband. She has more than 10 years of professional experience in agricultural organization and consulting. She takes care of product development, as well as communication, marketing, social media and organization.
Christoph (Co-Founder, CEO):
Christoph learned agriculture and studied computer science. He is committed to AgTech, geoinformation systems and field trials for almost 20 years. He has international project experience and is excited about the possibilities that smart field trials will offer in the future. Christoph will advance ISO Farm Research as the managing director of AgDoIT.
Claas (Co-Founder, CTO):
Claas has been a consultant and service provider in the IT industry for 35 years and has successfully built up several companies. He likes to turn to new technical developments and thus has broad experience in cloud, embedded and real-time development. He runs his own data center and can perfectly drive technical development with his experience.
Our Partners
We at AgDoIT are excited to be part of this significant consortium to realize the vision of ISO Farm Research. Our partners are:
AMAZONE is the specialist for "Intelligent Crop Production" and for the exact placement of seed and production inputs. Stand 9/C30. Contact: Stefan Kiefer, stefan.kiefer@amazone.de
EXAgT GmbH is the specialist for OFR tests and evaluation. Stand 25/B14, Contact: Andreas Schmidt: andreas.schmidt@exagt.de
EXA Computing GmbH offers exatrek, the innovative solution for intelligent fleet management and universal data acquisition. Stand P11/D84, Contact: Dietrich Kortenbruck, info@exatrek.de
The company geo-konzept GmbH is a leader in precision farming as well as experimental design and GIS in Germany. Stand 8/B6, Contact: Thomas Muhr, geo@geo-konzept.de
Hanse-Agro - Beratung & Entwicklung GmbH is a private and independent agricultural consulting company. Stand: 9/C30 (AMAZONE stand), Contact: Oliver Zapka, zapka@hanse-agro.de
Faculty of Agriculture of the Kiel University of Applied Sciences is supporting us scientifically in our project. Contact: Jan-Henrik Ferdinand, jan-henrik.ferdinand@fh-kiel.de
