Anyone driving through the district today where Jonas Becker farms his fields can see modern agriculture in action: smart combine harvesters, connected tractors, smart irrigation systems. But for a long time, this technological progress concealed a fundamental problem for the farmer: every machine spoke a different digital language. Five different platforms, three manufacturers, countless data sources – and Jonas caught in the middle of this coordination chaos.
With the AEF data room AgIN (Agricultural Interoperability Network), a new era is dawning for him. The focus is shifting: it is no longer the management of individual machines that defines his day-to-day work, but rather a holistic view of his fields and resources.
Before AgIN, Jonas’s working day consisted mainly of manual coordination. He would prepare work orders for his combine harvesters, tractors and harvesters on their respective manufacturers’ platforms, or retrieve machine data. Sometimes he also had to manually extract work records from one platform and transfer them to another – a time-consuming and error-prone routine. Documenting data for regulatory requirements was even more labour-intensive: which areas had been worked? What quantities of inputs had been used? Everything had to be recorded manually.
The core problem was clear: the various platforms could not communicate with one another. Jonas Becker was caught between proprietary systems, which led to data silos and a massive amount of coordination work.
AgIN makes possible for the first time what was previously unthinkable: cross-manufacturer interoperability at platform level. A uniform interface – experts refer to it as a ‘Common Connector’ – ensures that every platform uses the same standard.
AgIN is a project of the Agricultural Industry Electronics Foundation (AEF), an organisation that promotes interoperability in agriculture worldwide and has already played a key role in developing the established ISOBUS (ISO 11783) standard. The AEF develops guidelines that enable various stakeholders – from manufacturers to farm managers – to collaborate efficiently and break down technical barriers.
As a data space, AgIN forms part of the Common European Agricultural Data Spaces (CEADS), a strategic framework of the European Commission. CEADS enables different economic sectors to exchange their data under standardised and trustworthy conditions – whilst upholding European values such as data sovereignty and data protection.
For Jonas, this means in practical terms that GPS data, fuel levels and consumption information are available in a standardised format. He is free to choose which platform to use, as the data is now available in an interoperable format. Machines that he owns or rents can be accessed via standardised interfaces.
The biggest difference is evident in Jonas’s day-to-day work. Instead of juggling five platforms, he now works exclusively with the platform of his choice and harmonised data tailored to specific use cases. His decisions are based on consolidated, reliable information from all his systems. Documentation required for regulatory purposes is partly captured automatically – reliably, traceably and available in a timely manner.
Without Materna, this transformation would not be possible, as Materna – as the AEF’s key development partner – has developed the Common Connector: the critical technical component that, for the first time, enables platforms to communicate across different manufacturers. Materna has created a decentralised architecture that enables every network participant to manage their own data independently and with full control. As a result, farmers, manufacturers and service providers are not dependent on a central platform, but retain genuine control over their data.
Thanks to Materna’s commitment, AgIN is now a fully functional, production-ready solution that is already delivering practical benefits.
For Jonas Becker, this means that he can finally focus on what really matters: his future. Interoperable data and open standards make smart farming more pragmatic and sustainable.
Materna is listed as a certified service provider within the PLAIN ecosystem and supports clients in realising their data and AI projects on PLAIN – from defining the use case and setting up data pipelines through to the delivery of a usable data product. “Materna’s strength lies in consultancy, integration and delivery on the provided managed service infrastructure. We are also happy to provide demo access within the ecosystem,” says Dr Marco Kremer.
Getting started and orientation: potential analysis, use case workshop and selection of the appropriate platform components.
Implementation: Data integration, pipeline engineering, analytics/visualisation and AI integration – with a focus on a specific data product.
Scaling and sustainment: Handover to the organisation or data labs, governance and support for reuse initiatives
Anyone setting up a data lab or looking to move data and AI initiatives from the concept phase into implementation will find PLAIN an attractive foundation: the platform takes a lot of the infrastructure and integration work off your hands, is designed for processing classified data, and speeds up the path to a productive outcome. Materna helps to prioritise suitable use cases, set up the pilot properly and build the solution in such a way that it can be operated and scaled within the organisation.
