With all the activity surrounding telematics and farm management systems, it's sometimes difficult to identify all the right players. Are groups overlapping on effort? Are they working together efficiently?

Having recently attended the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers meeting in Louisville, there was plenty of discussion among attendees about the advancements — and existing hurdles — to true precision equipment compatibility.

AgGateway will begin initial testing this week on its Standardized Precision Ag Data Exchange (SPADE) Conversion Toolbox. The test will take place in Lincoln, Neb., at PlugFest, an agricultural machinery compatibility testing event organized by the Agricultural Electronics Manufacturers Foundation (AEF) and hosted by the National Tractor Testing Lab.