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Wheels of Progress
| Bill Swanekamp
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>> Published Date: 6/15/2010
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 Imagine if you were in the greenhouse business in 1960. You’d be growing your bedding plants in wooden flats with either aluminum or paper packs. Flats would be filled by hand with media that was mixed by hand and transported throughout the greenhouse with wheelbarrows. When it came to transplanting, you would first have to sow your own seed into loose-filled seedling trays and separate them by hand to be transplanted into the finished flat. Flats were shipped on fixed racks or in a single row on the back of a flat bed truck. The greenhouse environment was controlled by a simple thermostat and all the office paperwork was done by hand.
Let’s jump forward to 2010 and see how things have changed! Wooden flats have been replaced by plastic flats and packs, and in some instances, with biodegradable materials. Seedlings are produced in plug trays by the millions by large companies that specialize in that aspect of production. We all have sophisticated soil mixing and flat-filling systems that are electronically integrated with our mechanical transplanters so that a human hand never has to touch our young seedlings. These are transported throughout the greenhouse on electric carts or movable benches where the greenhouse environment is controlled by expensive and complicated computer systems. Shipping is controlled by barcodes and carts are quickly loaded onto large tractor-trailers to be shipped hundreds of miles for delivery. Lastly, the office is run by powerful computers that do massive calculations in seconds and provide us with financial information at a moment’s notice.
Would any of us want to go back to the old way of doing things? I doubt it! Most of those old ways required strenuous backbreaking work and were very slow. Yes, we’ve been spoiled a little bit by the “wheels of progress” … and we like it!
Now, our industry is approaching another point of progress and it has the potential to improve our efficiency dramatically. I’m talking about creating a way to exchange data electronically within our industry. It’s called by many names, such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) or Business-to-Business Integration (B2B) or eBusiness, to mention a few. It’s true that some businesses already have this in place, but it’s only with their largest vendors and requires a custom cross-reference file between both companies to integrate their data.
What if our industry agreed upon a set of common electronic standards so we could all exchange data electronically instead of manually? I can hear you now asking, “Our industry agree on anything?” Yes, I know we’re resistant to these types of programs, but this one has the potential to streamline our office work dramatically. The big question is: Who decides what the standards are?
The answer: We do! But we need someone to act as an independent mediator and facilitator. This is where AgGateway (www.AgGateway.org) comes into the picture. I’m sure you’re asking yourself, “Who is AgGateway?” They’re a non-profit organization serving the agriculture industry and they provide a place where these common standards are held and then can be accessed by anyone who chooses to use them. They’re already providing these services to other segments of the agriculture industry, such as Crop Nutrition, Crop Protection, and Feed and Seed.
Right now, we’re in the process of forming a task force to look into the feasibility of establishing a new AgGateway counsel. This counsel will work on recruiting other companies to join the task force and counsel, so we can educate our industry about the benefits of this new endeavor. If you are attending OFA in Columbus, Ohio, this July you’ll see a booth for AgGateway in the main entrance to the trade show. Please consider learning more about this organization and how it can benefit, not just the industry as a whole, but your company as well.
Remember, the wheels of progress are always moving—let’s make sure we don’t fall too far behind. Otherwise we might still be moving our flats around with wheelbarrows. GT
Bill Swanekamp is president of Kube-Pak Corp., Allentown, New Jersey.
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