AEM’s Ag Sector Board of Directors met in-person last month in Toronto discuss a wealth of important industry issues, including agriculture in Canada and engine emissions. The agenda also featured updates from AEM staff regarding the association’s service areas, including advocacy, regulatory, and business intelligence.
Ag Sector Board Chair Greg Petras, president and COO of Kuhn, called the meeting to order and welcomed directors to the second meeting of 2025.
Directors also discussed progress made to achieve the Ag Sector Board priorities:
- Maintain and grow AEM’s global ag leadership position
- Help set the course for ag industry, lead by example, and strengthen the industry’s message
- Advocate for the ag equipment Industry with policymakers and regulators
- Build relationships, educate, lobby, and bring focus to policies relevant to agriculture and AEM members
- Strengthen and grow AEM’s ag member business
- Help to grow AEM ag members’ businesses
- Promote the ag industry’s role in Sustainability
- Promote modern production agriculture and benefits of technology to stakeholders
- Address technology issues
- Focus on machine cybersecurity and interoperability
Canadian Agriculture
The Board was joined by Canadian Federation of Agriculture President Keith Currie to discuss the scope and priorities of CFA, along with the current state of Canadian agriculture and the top issues that are impacting the industry including trade and regulations. This was followed by a discussion on how AEM and its member companies can work more closely with CFA and their members to help strengthen agriculture in Canada.
Advocacy
AEM Senior Advisor, Global Public Policy Alex Russ provided the Board with the latest update on the current status of U.S. trade and tariffs, including AEM’s efforts to advocate on behalf of the industry. This was then followed up with an overview of AEM’s efforts to continue to support the ratification of the MAC Protocol.
The Board then received a federal advocacy update from AEM Vice President of Federal Affairs Kate Fox Wood. This included a discussion on some of the latest language being considered for the National Defense Authorization Act.
AEM Senior Vice President of Government and Public Affairs Kip Eideberg then joined to highlight AEM’s efforts at the state level including work happening within California to address Cal/OSHA and PFAS, Wisconsin to establish a Dairy Innovation Fund, and Texas to support R&D and Workforce Legislation.
Business Intelligence
AEM Senior Vice President of Industry Sectors and Product Leadership Curt Blades provided an overview of the increased focus to strengthen AEM’s business intelligence offerings. The Board heard about the improvements being made to AEM’s survey email campaign, changes within AEM’s Market Share Statistics department, and increasing member engagement with various product offerings.
Ag Equipment Demo Days
AEM Senior Director of Agriculture Austin Gellings provided a recap of the AEM’s Precision Application Demo Day that was held in June, along with an overview of the key takeaways from the event. An overview was then provided for the planned Ottawa Demo Day coming up in August, including a discussion on the planned policy engagement and priorities for the demo day.
Engine Emissions
The Board was then joined by the Chair of AEM’s Engine Emissions Technical Council and Director of Emissions Global Regulatory Affairs for Caterpillar Beth Hinchee, who provided an update on the latest activity surrounding engine emissions followed by a discussion by the Board on how AEM can continue to help lead the conversation around engine emissions in non-road equipment. This was then led to an overview of the proposed industry Non-Road Equipment Advanced Powertrain Technology Evaluation and the approval of the Board to support this project.
The next meetings of the AEM Board of Directors, CE Sector Board, and Ag Sector Board are scheduled Nov. 20-21 during AEM’s Annual Conference in Miami, Florida. For more information about the Ag Sector Board, contact AEM’s Curt Blades at cblades@aem.org.
