Washington, D.C., USA
October 19, 2012
More than 20 leading companies in the seed industry are working collaboratively within AgGateway to improve eBusiness processes, with major improvements slated for the end of 2012 and more to come next year. The result will be faster, more accurate information, reduced costs of doing business and improved customer service.
The project, “Seed Connectivity II,” will further streamline the seed supply chain, establishing electronic connectivity among many manufacturers, distributors and retailers for shipping, invoicing and reporting, as well as for price sheets, seed bookings and orders.
The effort builds on an initial seed industry effort completed in 2009 among just eight companies for ship notification, invoice and grower point of sale reporting. Seed Connectivity II includes 21 manufacturers, distributors, non-integrated retailers and software providers, including: AgData, AgVantage, AgWorks, Central Valley Ag, Ceres Solutions, Co-Alliance, LLP, Control System Software, Crop Production Services, Dow AgroSciences, E-Markets, GlobalRange, GROWMARK, Heartland Co-op, Helena Chemical, Key Cooperative, Monsanto, River Valley Cooperative, Software Solutions Integrated, Syngenta, Winfield Solutions and XS, Inc.
“Seed connectivity is essential to eBusiness – it supports more accurate and timely data, allowing companies to increase their efficiencies,” said Lori Edwards, Chair of AgGateway’s Seed Council, and Business Process Analyst Manager at Syngenta. “The number of companies participating in this project has more than doubled since the first project, a clear sign of the success and value we place in eBusiness implementations.”
Added Project Board Chair Greg Erler, the Electronic Business to Business Manager at Monsanto Company, “By the end of this project we will have created eConnectivity solutions for the seed ordering and inventory management processes, which is a major step forward for eBusiness in this key agricultural sector.”
In the second part of the project, slated for 2013, the companies will focus on implementation of the booking/order process between seed suppliers and their distributors and retailers– helping realize the full benefits of eBusiness.
Project participants are leveraging implementation tools and standards developed by AgGateway and already partially implemented within the seed industry, including AgGateway’s Ag Industry Identification System (AGIIS).
Companies interested in joining the project should contact Marilyn Hunter, AgGateway’s Enabling Services Director at Marilyn@aggateway.org.
More information on the Seed Connectivity Project, the Seed Council, and AgGateway’s other activities will be presented at AgGateway’s Annual Conference in Albuquerque, November 6-8. More information on the conference can be found at www.AgGateway.org under “Events”.
AgGateway is a non-profit consortium of businesses serving the agriculture industry, which helps member companies improve their profitability and productivity by promoting, enabling and expanding eBusiness in agriculture and agriculture related businesses.
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