Engineers with 68 different ISOBUS components — from virtual terminals to a programmable tractor chair — were scattered across nearly 35 tables during the 3-day Agricultural Electronics Foundation (AEF) Plugfest, May 7-9 in Lincoln, Neb.

Life as a precision technician during the winter months may yield fewer calls from distressed customers over the course of a week, but the unpredictable nature of the job can still call for a demanding day with hundreds of miles on the road.

Taking a break from the rigors of round-robin compatibility testing at the Agricultural Electronics Foundation (AEF) Plugfest in Lincoln, Neb., this spring (also referred to fondly as “speed dating for ag nerds” by one attendee), AGCO software engineer Mike Schmidt and Dave Smart, staff systems engineer for John Deere and team leader for AEF’s high-speed ISOBUS Project, discussed the progression of compatibility over the years through AEF conformance testing, the simplification of equipment connectivity for farmers of all brands and expectations for ag functionality with high-speed ISOBUS network capabilities on the horizon.