I caught up with Ryan Milligan of AEF (Agricultural Industry Electronics Foundation) ahead of the organization’s upcoming spring Plugfest, taking place March 31-April 3 in Milwaukee, Wis. Dozens of precision ag software engineers from different companies will gather under one roof to test compatibility and correct communication of their ISOBUS products.

“It’s sort of like speed dating, but for ag equipment,” Milligan says. “The engineers show up in a room with their equipment. The tractors will take a table, and the implement folks move from table to table from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.”

For two days in a row, engineers test their products with those from their competitors, performing up to 48 different tests in 45-minute time slots to see what works the first time, and sometimes where improvements are needed to obtain compatibility on the ISOBUS. The biannual event has grown leaps and bounds since its inception in 2001, Milligan says, as mixed fleets become more common in the U.S.

“My first Plugfest was in 2014 and there were about 30 total people there,” he says. "We’ve tripled those attendance numbers, with over 100 people when it takes place at the Commodity Classic. The number of machines and companies participating have also tripled along with that.

“In the early 2000s — around the time AEF was founded — mixed fleets were part of the farming culture in Europe,” Milligan adds. “All the OEMs saw the writing on the wall, mixed fleets would become more common everywhere because of specialized equipment, different crops and regions. We’d like farmers to be able to plug their equipment together and get the right results.”

During my travels as technology editor for our sister publications No-Till Farmer and Strip-Till Farmer, I've seen up-close just how common mixed fleets are becoming. The other day, I visited with a farmer in Illinois who uses a John Deere strip-till rig and a Case IH planter. 

AEF is once again teaming up with the Milwaukee-based Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) to host spring Plugfest. Milligan says AEF will brief AEM’s ag technology leadership group on the latest developments in its quest for interoperability.

“There is a high-speed ISOBUS coming that’s going to allow for digital cameras and a higher level of command and control on equipment,” Milligan says. “Integrating cameras has become an important piece of where the equipment is heading. We want to make sure those smart sprayers are interoperable, and we’re working toward having plug and play cameras.”  

AEF core member companies AGCO, CNH Industrial, CLAAS, John Deere, Horsch, Kubota, KUHN, SAME DEUTZ-FAHR, and dozens of others will be represented at spring Plugfest next week. The fall 2025 Plugfest is set for Sept. 8–12 in Marienfeld, Germany.