DULUTH, GEORGIA, U.S. — AGCO Corp., a manufacturer and distributor of agricultural equipment, has signed on as a founding member of the DKE Data-Hub initiative. Through the DKE Data-Hub, AGCO said it will collaborate with other leaders in the agricultural industry to solve data communication and conversion problems for growers.

The initiative, which is scheduled to debut in 2018, is expected to offer solutions for dealing with the issue of allowing data transfer and conversion from multiple suppliers and OEMs to communicate with each other. The objective of the Data-Hub is to provide a neutral platform to streamline the data transfer process, as well as to improve efficiency, energy, work organization and the use of operating supplies leading to better quality production at lower costs.

“AGCO’s participation in the DKE Data-Hub initiative will enable our customers to optimize their agricultural production processes by simplifying the transfer of data across multiple platforms,” said Matt Rushing, vice-president of global advanced technology solutions product line at AGCO.

In an Aug. 9 presentation at the Jeffries Industrials Conference in New York City, New York, U.S., Andy Beck, senior vice-president of AGCO, discussed Fuse, the company’s approach to precision agriculture that connects the entire crop cycle from enterprise planning to planting, crop care, harvesting and grain storage.

“We’re investing in products outside of the tractor, our core tractor markets, also in the area of harvesting application equipment, and also investing a lot in new technologies or the term precision agriculture,” Beck said. “And that is a very important trend in our business and we think an opportunity for future growth and differentiation amongst competitors. And so, we have a lot of investment in new technology as well around that area.”

Additionally, through partnerships and connections with farm management software providers, AGCO is allowing more growers to more easily transfer data between AGCO machines and their preferred Farm Management Information Software (FMIS) using AGCO task file management systems, VarioDoc and TaskDoc, to help them become more efficient in farm data and fleet management, the company said. Some of the recently established data connections that AGCO has made include connecting with farm management tools from SMAG, Farmplan, DuPont Pioneer and FarmFacts, enabling growers to make the most of the data on their farms.

Other members of the DKE Data-Hub include Amazone, Grimme and Kuhn. For more information, click here.