Note: This segment was featured in Conservation Ag Update, a bi-monthly program from our sister grower publication, No-Till Farmer.

Software engineers from different ag equipment companies put competition aside and came together under one roof to test the cross-brand interoperability of their products.  

Spring Plugfest, hosted by the Agricultural Industry Electronics Foundation, is a 3-day event in downtown Milwaukee that's like speed dating for tractors and implements to see if they’re compatible. During the event, AEF highlighted its High Speed ISOBUS (HSI) system that’s roughly 4,000 times faster than the current ISOBUS technology. This could pave the way for real-time data, high-definition cameras, complex sensors, autonomous control and more.

“If we want higher levels of automation and we want to move towards autonomous systems because we just don’t have enough operators to keep things going. This is one of the significant paths that’ll help with both of those," says David Smart, AEF HSI project lead. "First, that higher performance. And today, a high-speed planter, somewhere around 10-12 mph, is a pretty rough ride, unless you have a fantastic suspension. But if the operator wasn’t there, could it go 15-18 mph and achieve equal or even better performance with HSI? We’ll see. I think we’ll find out in the coming years.” 

Smart says the goal is to have HSI 1.0 ready by 2028.

Watch the full Video of this episode of Conservation Ag Update.