AgriGuide Newsletter #17 – October 2026
From the Project Chair: Renewed Energy for the Months Ahead
As summer draws to a close, AgriGuide enters the final part of the year with renewed energy and a strong sense of purpose. September has been a particularly active month, bringing together technical discussions, industry engagement, and opportunities to showcase the progress being made across the initiative.
While each activity had its own focus, collectively they demonstrated something important: AgriGuide continues to gain visibility, attract interest, and advance towards its objectives. From sharing experiences and lessons learned to exploring new opportunities for collaboration and development, the conversations of recent weeks have helped strengthen the foundations for the work ahead.
The transition from summer to autumn brings a natural shift in pace and perspective. After the energy and activity of the summer period, this is a time to take stock, reflect on what we have learned, and refine our focus for the months ahead. Yet September has also brought a renewed sense of energy to our work, as colleagues and partners have returned with fresh ideas, new perspectives, and a clear commitment to moving AgriGuide forward.
That combination of reflection and renewed momentum is particularly valuable as we enter the final months of the year. The commitment shown across our various workstreams, members and partners is helping turn ambition into tangible progress, while ensuring that AgriGuide continues to evolve in ways that deliver value for all stakeholders.
As we look ahead to the coming months, I am excited by the opportunities that lie before us and grateful for the dedication that continues to drive this initiative forward. Thank you for your ongoing efforts and support, and I look forward to continuing this journey together.
With warm regards,
Georgiana
AgriGuide at the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit in London
On 22-23 September, CropLife Europe’s AgriGuide team joined the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit in London. It was two busy days, and a good chance to put the initiative in front of stakeholders who are excited about where agricultural innovation and digital labelling are heading.
We met regulators, industry representatives and technology companies, and digital labelling came up in almost every conversation. There is real interest in how the European regulatory landscape is evolving, and many attendees wanted to hear where things stand today. That gave us plenty of opportunities to explain the work under way through AgriGuide, and to reach stakeholders we haven’t yet engaged with.
Many visitors were curious about the platform and what it can do. This was a welcome opportunity to explain that AgriGuide is a collaborative, industry-wide initiative. It is non-competitive by design, and its focus is on delivering value for the wider agricultural community. The more people we spoke to, the clearer it became that this message resonates.
Beyond the conversations and the networking, the summit gave us practical insights. They will feed into the ongoing refinement of the AgriGuide mobile application and help shape our preparations for future rollout activities.
We came back from London with new contacts, useful feedback and added momentum for the months ahead. Thank you to everyone who stopped by to talk with us.
From the Technical Corner
The past few months have been busy across the Technology Pillar. We’ve been advancing platform capabilities, and we’ve also been looking ahead to where AgriGuide goes next. In August, a face-to-face workshop of the core technical team let us step back from day-to-day delivery and focus on the longer-term vision for the platform.
Looking ahead: shaping the AgriGuide roadmap
Members of the AgriGuide technical pillar, programme and regulatory representatives met to discuss priorities for the coming years and map out the next phase of development through to 2028.
We talked about future releases and version management, the evolution of the data model, and the concept of model ‘satellites’. We also looked at how AgriGuide can better support new user groups, improve access to guidance and documentation, and prepare for broader adoption as the platform matures.
The workshop also left room for open discussion on stakeholder engagement, future communication activities, upcoming webinars, and how best to support the planned soft launch and the adoption efforts that follow it. We aligned on priorities and identified actions to guide development over the coming years.
Improving label and data management
Work continues on how label versions are managed in AgriGuide. This is a complex topic, so the team has broken the challenge down into phases, with the first focusing on situations where a single product identifier (Global Trade Item Number – GTIN) is used across multiple countries. Platform changes to support this are in testing as we write. Further phases support more elaborate handling of multiple concurrent label versions. The core platform changes also help us to better manage product information and deliver co-pack support.
Enhancing local user experience
Recent improvements to the reference data process make it easier to review, curate, and publish updates across the platform. We have paid particular attention to translation coverage and multilingual support, so users can access information more consistently in their preferred language.
Supporting adoption and future growth
The Product Catalogue continues to evolve through technical enhancements and ongoing discussions with stakeholders. This work is building common understanding around terminology, licensing considerations, and how catalogue information is presented, and it lays the groundwork for future services and applications.
The Simple Application Record Keeping (SAppR) feature has entered its final testing phase ahead of a broader pilot. Testing with a wider audience will give us valuable insights before the solution is rolled out more broadly.
Engaging with the wider community
Beyond AgriGuide itself, the team stays involved in wider industry initiatives: the OECD Digital Labels Community of Practice, industry events, and ISO Technical Committee 347. These bring external perspectives into the programme and let AgriGuide contribute to the broader conversation around digital labelling, agricultural data standards, and digitisation across the sector.
AgriGuide Country Roll-Out
As countries continue to advance their label digitisation efforts, we are actively engaging in discussions with several of them regarding the soft launch of Simple Application Record Keeping (SAppR). At the same time, Digital Label soft launches are being explored as the digitised portfolio grows for other countries. In parallel, new companies are being onboarded to AgriGuide, while significant progress continues on reference data activities and product catalogue analysis.
Meet the Team!
Hello from Graham
Here are the eight questions we asked Graham to get to know him a little better!
Before we get into AgriGuide, could you briefly introduce yourself and tell us a little about your background?
I trained as a research chemist and computational chemist, working with complex data sets, later moving into IT. I’ve had a number of roles over two decades in R&D IT, most recently working on digital labels and agriculture via broad collaborations in the agritech sector.
In my quiet moments I enjoy growing flowers and vegetables, baking bread, and a variety of walks with friends and family.
Could you tell us a little more about your role within AgriGuide, including your main responsibilities and day-to-day focus?
I work with the technical team, co-leading the pillar and having particular responsibility for “work package 1”, the core platform and digital labels, plus product catalogue. My day-to-day focus is quite varied, occasionally diving into a technical detail with the team but more usually helping us to see the shape of the landscape we’re working in and suggesting a useful direction for the next stage of our work together.
What is something you’ve learned over the years that still guides the way you work today?
It’s to look at the data. I learned this in research and was able to bring this into my IT and Digital activities. Look at the data, ask questions of it and use it to cut through the fog that can surround discussions.
What do you enjoy most about being involved in a project like AgriGuide?
The glorious mix of amazing people working together on this complex and challenging but achievable transformation. It’s fun! Clearly, not every discussion is easy but all the people I see and work with are trying hard to make this work.
If you could instantly make one part of your work easier, what would it be and why?
It’s a bit trivial, but having easy visibility of everyone’s availability so we can set up discussions more easily – that would be amazing. We always manage but working across so many companies makes it hard to find the right spots in diaries.
What is something people might be surprised to learn about you outside of work?
I’ve had some training in elements of art, despite a career as a scientist, including calligraphy. This was largely driven by an early love of illuminated manuscripts such as the Lindisfarne Gospels, created around 720 AD.
What are you currently curious about or enjoying learning, whether related to work or completely outside of it?
Nothing to do with digital labels, but my interest in sustainable agriculture has led me to legumes – peas, beans and so on. I was delighted to learn that an unusual black pea that I remember from my childhood, a “carling” or “carlin” pea, is being grown in the UK and sold by a couple of niche suppliers. So now I’m learning about legumes in cooler European areas, how they are being used in some flours and other foods, and how I can start to use them more.
Looking ahead, what would you personally like to help improve or make easier for others involved in AgriGuide?
We’ve had to do a lot of complex technical work to set up the whole transformative shift to digital labels as a big leap beyond paper labels. Which means that we’ve had to talk far too much about the complexity, the awkwardness, the details and so on. I’d like to help shift this into the background, much as most of the internet technology stack (layers of specifications defining and routing packets of data between applications and machines) and the web technologies (web pages, HTTP, etc.) have disappeared from view.
Simplifying this for all of us would make life easier and make our transformation so much more straightforward. That feels like a good target to aim for.
What’s Next
The AgriGuide calendar continues through the end of the year, with several activities planned for November and December.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 3 to 4 Nov | British Crop Production Council Congress 2026, Harrogate |
| 3 Nov | AIPROM Annual Stakeholder Event, Bucharest |
| 17 to 18 Nov | Fresenius Conference, Cologne |
| 18 to 19 Nov | Datagri 2026, Valladolid, Spain |
| 20 Nov | LAPAR 25th Anniversary, Bucharest |
If you are planning to attend any of these and would like to meet the AgriGuide team while you are there, do get in touch.
