7/23/2012

Advisor Newsletters - AEM Advisor

AEM AG Services Sector Continues to Forge Friendships with Other Industry Groups

AEM AG Services Sector continues to forge friendships with groups and associations who share AEM’s desire to support and defend production agriculture.

Charlie O’Brien, AEM vice president and agriculture sector leader, recently briefed members of the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) on several activities and issues currently facing agricultural equipment manufacturers at ASTA’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

Innovations in agricultural equipment developed by AEM member companies hold one of the keys to feeding a hungry world and satisfying future biofuels requirements, O’Brien told members of the ASTA, a group that was founded back in 1883. The group heard that equipment innovations in the past century played a significant role in boosting farm productivity and crop production. Areas of electronic implement control, autonomous (or robot-controlled) equipment systems, telematics and farm management information software, have all seen significant innovations.

The use of electronic equipment is the essential force driving innovation in agricultural engineering, and because many of these innovations are proprietary solutions, AEM has led efforts to establish industry groups like the Agricultural Industry Electronics Foundation (AEF), which is funded by equipment manufacturers and two associations, including AEM.

AEF has eight different teams made up of engineers from competing companies working together behind the scenes to develop compatibility among products made by multiple manufacturers, all for the benefit of agricultural producers and suppliers like ASTA. Other AEM initiatives, he said, include addressing threats that would affect agricultural equipment manufacturers, such as global legislation regarding chemical management, electronic waste and conflict minerals. AEM also participates in the Coalition to Save Our GPS.

O’Brien noted that in April, AEM met with agricultural equipment manufacturing associations from eight other countries or regions in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to form an alliance to identify and address global industry threats and issues. The new alliance plans to hold biennial forums that will include agriculture ministers and government officials from the countries represented.

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