From the Project Chair: A Warm Welcome to 2026

As we step into 2026, I do so with genuine energy and optimism for what lies ahead. AgriGuide has continued to mature thanks to your commitment, your engagement, and your willingness to actively shape this initiative together​

In the months ahead, our focus will be on preparing the digital platform for its first meaningful steps in the field. This includes onboarding additional companies, supporting countries throughout their label digitisation journey, and laying the foundations for a soft launch. Each of these milestones brings us closer to delivering a practical, reliable tool that supports farmers and stakeholders in using products safely and with confidence.

What inspires me most are the people behind this project. Across countries and workstreams, expertise is shared generously, questions are asked thoughtfully, and support is offered where it matters most. This collective mindset is what allows AgriGuide to progress with clarity, credibility, and purpose.

AgriGuide Showcased at AgGateway Europe

Data quality emerged as a key theme. AgriGuide was noted as an example of wellstructured guidance data, which raised interest in extending similar approaches to seeds, fertilisers and other inputs (“AgriGuide”). 

Digital Partnership Advances at Recent Industry Event 

AgriGuide participated in a successful industry gathering on the 16^th of December 2025 that brought together key stakeholders from across the agricultural technology sector. The event, which included representatives from the European Commission, facilitated important discussions on digital innovation in agriculture. 

Representatives from CEMA and COPA-COGECA joined CLE member companies in showcasing current digital solutions and exploring opportunities for greater collaboration. The session enabled productive dialogue on critical priorities, including regulatory simplification and system interoperability, reflecting AgriGuide’s commitment to working with the broader agricultural ecosystem to deliver practical solutions that benefit farmers whilst supporting regulatory compliance. 

Regulatory Update

The new labelling regulation 

The Member States have voted in favour of the Commission’s draft labelling regulation intended to replace the current Regulation 547/2011. The proposed new regulation aims to make it easier for users of pesticides to understand the content of PPP labels with regard to safety and use instructions. The new labels provide more clearly standardised information on the safe handling and conditions of use of pesticides, the disposal of empty containers, indications of specific hazards or risks (for example, to bees), as well as the risk‑mitigation and precautionary measures that users must take to protect human health and the environment. In addition to physical labelling, the proposed new regulation introduces a digital label, facilitating easier access to information for users. 

Once translated, the draft Regulation will undergo a three‑month scrutiny period by the Council and the Parliament. After final adoption, the new labelling requirements will apply to all new or renewed plant protection product applications submitted after 1 January 2028.

AgriGuide Country Roll-Out  

The EU countries continue to expand the number of labels published on the AgriGuide platform. In addition to the three pilot countries, Spain, Ireland, France and Lithuania have now reached a level of robustness that enables member companies to digitalise their full portfolios and to welcome new participants. 

In this context, AEPLA (the Spanish industry association) organised a successful event to pre-onboard companies interested in joining AgriGuide. A total of 23 companies took part in this event. 

Progress continues across the remaining countries, and several more will soon be able to digitalise the complete portfolios of participating companies. 

From the Technical Corner 

January, and a new year begins. We started 2026 with a virtual workshop for the core tech team, first taking stock of the progress the whole project made in 2025, with labels digitised, countries onboarded, and features added to the platform. And then reviewed the targets we have for the coming months. Country support brings new and revised translations for reference data and app headings; there are small but important extensions to the label data model to introduce, and there are preparations to enable the native Android and iOS apps in the country app stores. We also reviewed the recent updates to regulations and updated our roadmap to align with those. 

A major feature that is being extensively tested is simple application records, finalising this stripped back, just the basics approach for testing in pilot countries by a wider group. This will make use of the set of product catalogues that were delivered in December. These catalogues are mostly derived from country databases, but where those are unavailable, they make use of product lists directly from companies. These make it easy for a farmer to look up the specific product they have used and combine that with the location, quantity and date of application to create a digital record of use. The farmer is able to create a series of records over time and download those for their own purposes or to share with an official body, when required. 

Finally, the team is planning for the next series of internal technical webinars to build on the well-received 2025 webinars, and for a series of technical engagements with standards bodies and with potential integration partners. 

Meet the Team!

Before we get into AgriGuide, could you briefly introduce yourself?

My name is Linnéa Philine Koll, and I live in the northern part of Germany, in the area of Bremen, together with my husband, our daughter and our two dogs. I originally come from this region, but we lived in Berlin for several years, where I also met my husband. With a background in nutritional science, I joined BASF Regulatory Affairs Crop Protection five years ago, which eventually led me to AgriGuide.

Could you tell us a little more about your role within AgriGuide, what are your main responsibilities and day to day focus?

Within AgriGuide, I have two roles. I coordinate BASF’s rollout to all EU Member States, aligning with country colleagues and turning regulatory requirements into practical digital label workflows. In this role, I stay in close contact and communication with teams in the countries to keep feedback loops short and to make sure their specific needs and inputs are reflected. In this project, it is crucial to understand the individual country needs and requirements, to support the colleagues working on the implementation in the countries, and to hear the voices of the farmers. On the other hand, I also contribute to the AgriGuide transformation workstream, where we frame the project internally and make sure our way of working stays aligned with industry discussions and the evolving regulatory framework.

You joined AgriGuide in April 2025 as the newest member of the core project team. How did you get up to speed, and who or what supported you during onboarding?

When I joined in March 2025, I combined deep dive learning with direct engagement. I reviewed all existing AgriGuide materials, such as the playbook and previous documentation. At the same time, I set up regular touchpoints with our BASF AgriGuide sub-team member, Krisztian Szegedi, who helped me understand the strategic context and ongoing discussions. I also reached out to colleagues with key roles, such as Gaëlle and Raj, to learn about their perspectives, challenges, and the current status, as AgriGuide is a complex and fast-moving project. These one-on-one exchanges helped me connect the dots quickly. Hands-on work with the country pipeline, especially the label digitisation waves, eventually gave me the practical insights needed to understand how everything works together. It felt a bit like learning a language where things truly click once you start applying them.

Away from the office, do you have any hobbies or passions that most people might not know about?

My two dogs are already a hobby on their own. One is an English Cocker Spaniel, and the other is a Cocker mix, and I love taking them for runs in nature. Spending time outdoors with my husband and daughter is one of the best ways for me to unwind, but we also enjoy board games together. Another passion of mine is caring for indoor plants, and I now have around seventy to eighty of them. In general, being surrounded by nature helps me disconnect and recharge.

Looking ahead, what difference do you hope to make on the AgriGuide project?

I hope to contribute by keeping AgriGuide both regulatory-sound and practical for the real users who rely on it. This means strengthening the quality and consistency of our label data, making internal and country alignment smoother and staying closely connected to ongoing CLE discussions. Communication is essential because many different needs and visions come together in this project. I want to support a transparent and collaborative way of working so that everyone involved feels supported, heard and part of the journey. Ultimately, I hope my contribution helps make AgriGuide a tool that is easy to use, reliable and genuinely helpful.

Learnings from Romania on label digitisation

What helped you throughout the digitisation process/how did you manage this?

In general, we relied on a blend of strategic planning, specialised tools, and a focus on human factors such as skill-building. None of the Romanian country team members are IT experts, so the first step was to develop the necessary skills.

From a technology perspective, we started with a small, manageable pilot project, tested different options, and validated workflows. However, the thing that helped us the most was realising, perhaps not early enough, that we first needed to harmonise our views and act as a team rather than as individuals.

What was the most challenging aspect, and how did you mitigate it?

I would say that there were too many streams of action in the first phase, and we, the pilot countries, had to understand what each one expected from us and what support they could offer. We began communicating much more intensively within the team and organised a schedule of regular meetings to update one another and create a jointly agreed list of issues we could not clarify or resolve ourselves. The introduction of the ticket system also helped improve the situation.

Stakeholder engagement was another challenge. The reality of becoming immersed in the project work was quite different from our expectations, which had been shaped by initial conversations with the AgriGuide team. By taking one small step after another, we came to understand that this project is about learning by doing, at least during the first few months.

Any tips or suggestions that you would like to share with others?

Involving internal regulatory colleagues from the very beginning helps ensure buy-in and makes use of their deep knowledge of daily operations. This is expertise that external specialists may not have. It is also very important to ensure that the member who chairs the country team is a clear-minded specialist, a strong coordinator, and an ambitious person. This individual will need to represent the entire team and present all matters that must be addressed by the technical team.

What’s Next​

Overview of key events in February and March : ​

• 11 February 2026 — Webinar with Member States 
• 3–4 March 2026 — Annual CLE Conference 
• 5 March 2026 — Q1 ST F2F, Brussels 
• 10–12 March 2026 — France Distributors Event  
• 11 March 2026 — ISO Plenary  
• 11 March 2026 — AgriGuide Community Event 

From the Project Chair: Thank you and on to a fruitful 2026!​

As we close another truly productive year for AgriGuide, I want to express my sincere and heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you who have participated in our journey. Your unwavering dedication, expertise, and collaborative spirit have been the driving force behind our progress, bringing us closer to our shared vision of making AgriGuide a reality across Europe.​
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The achievements we have reached together this year — from critical milestones to invaluable user feedback and continuous engagement from our partners — are a testament to what we can accomplish when we work with purpose and unity. I look forward to continuing this work with you throughout 2026 as we focus collectively on preparing for a successful EU-wide launch. The coming year will be pivotal, and I am confident that, together, we will deliver something truly impactful for our industry and its future.

Recap of AgriTechnica 2025​

Digital Farming takes centre stage at AgriTechnica, Hannover 2025
On 14 November 2025 in Hanover, AgriTechnica underlined the growing significance of precision agriculture: an entire exhibition hall was devoted to Digital Farming, drawing innovators, practitioners and farmers keen to explore how data and digital tools will shape the next generation of crop protection and agronomy.​

We were delighted to present AgriGuide on the DLG Expert Stage Digital Farming as one digital solution for safe and compliant plant protection product (PPP) use. The session walked the audience through AgriGuide’s support at every step of the PPP application process, covered the legal background of digital labels and record keeping, showcased the current app version and Simple Application Record keeping, and shared direct farmer feedback. We also discussed how digital label data could be harnessed in future to better support farm-level decision‑making.​

After the talk, farmers were able to try AgriGuide first-hand, scanning two test labels and exploring the app in real time. The hands‑on demos sparked great conversations and practical feedback that will help refine the user experience.​
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A big thank you to everyone who stopped by — the energy at AgriTechnica reinforced the value of digital labels and how these are becoming essential enablers for modern, compliant and data‑driven farming.

Meet the Team!

How would you describe your role in AgriGuide to ​someone who has never heard of the project?​

I actually wear three hats within AgriGuide. I’ve been on the ​sub team quite from the start, bringing the experience with the French pesticide dataphase (Phytodata) to shape what works. I also translate CropLife Europe’s guidance into country-level playbooks so teams can implement it. Today I’m France’s country coordinator — advocating national priorities, aligning technical work with strict French PPP rules (for example PPE requirements), and ensuring we can publish compliant product information.​

What day-to-day responsibility in your role would most people find surprising?​

People might be surprised on the strong communication element in my work . My background is in agronomy, but I spent the first ten years of my career in a communications agency translating scientific data for non-specialist audiences, such as retailers, food industry and consumers. That experience in clear science communication and crisis management is surprisingly relevant: I regularly explain our progress to stakeholders in France, and I ensure complex technical details are presented in a way people can act on.

What do you most enjoy doing outside work?

I love travelling and engaging with people from different cultures — that’s part of why working at a European level is so stimulating. Peru and Bolivia were highlights; my family and I hiked to Machu Picchu over five days, and those long, adaptive trekking days were unforgettable. We’d love to go on safari in Tanzania next. Mostly, I enjoy being out in nature and going on hikes with the family.

Do you have a small habit or ritual that helps you stay energised during the day?​

I’m not very ritualistic — I don’t even drink coffee — so nothing formal. Staying energised for me is more about variety and meaningful work than a particular routine.

What are you most proud of in relation to AgriGuide?​

I’m proud to be part of the team — this is the biggest initiative CropLife has undertaken at a European level. Having followed AgriGuide from the early days, it’s very satisfying to see the platform take shape and to watch the project move from concept to delivery.​​

If you could sum up AgriGuide in a single sentence or motto, what would it be?

AgriGuide is a unique, precision-enabled database whose primary purpose is stewardship — to make it easy for farmers to access clear, practical information on safe handling and product use in order to protect people’s health. We must remember that this is about farmers and stewardship first, not about digital labels or technology for its own sake.

“For me, the value of AgriGuide isn’t just in the technology — it’s in ensuring trustworthy, accessible information reaches the people who need it most. If we keep stewardship at the forefront, the platform will deliver real, positive impact on health and safety in agriculture.​“​

AgriGuide Community Event ​

First AgriGuide Community Event is a wrap!​
On Tuesday 4th of November, we held our first AgriGuide Community Event – a virtual gathering for all AgriGuide working-group members to connect, share insights and align on the way forward. With 160 participants, it was a lively and well-attended session!​
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Highlights included an interactive word-cloud exercise capturing how participants describe AgriGuide in one word, the latest version of the AgriGuide video that showcases what AgriGuide is about, a panel conversation with three project members offering insightful perspectives on the way forward and a live demo of the mobile application.​

From the Technical Corner 

Successful completion of our 2025 Digitisation Webinar series​
On 11 November and 9 December, we ran our fifth and sixth digitisation webinars, completing our series for 2025. These sessions gave us time to dive into the label digitisation process, tools, and services in November, and into the subtleties of describing directions for use, digitising the GAP tables, in December. We plan to run further sessions in 2026, with feedback shaping the next series to match the priorities and needs of the wider project community.​
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As we close out our technical year the team is working very hard to deliver a set of product catalogues across all countries, and to deliver the initial version (a ‘minimal viable product’ to use the technical jargon) of our simple application records feature. We will have more to share on these in the next newsletter.​

AgriGuide’s presence at ​leading AgriTech Events ​

Country Roll-Out ​

Reaching key milestones for broader rollout​
AgriGuide continues to gather momentum: many countries have moved from initial digitisation to quality checks and publication, while workstreams tackle translations, technical fixes and regulatory questions. Notable achievements from the past two months include all 23 countries that have continued to digitise, quality check and publish labels. ​
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Next steps continue to focus on translations and further supporting countries in their label digitisation process. These milestones reflect strong collaboration and bring AgriGuide closer to delivering interoperable, compliant digital labels for farmers across Europe.​

Spotlight on local events in Romania​

This section highlights two recent events in Romania that showcased AgriGuide among relevant stakeholder groups. The events exemplify how local initiatives can build awareness and spark partnerships across the sector.​

Presentation at the University of Agronomic Sciences​
AgriGuide made a strong impression at the University of Agronomic Sciences in Bucharest, where the platform was showcased as a practical enabler for Integrated Pest Management. The session included an overview of the platform architecture, database structure and integration with digital decision‑support tools, and prompted lively questions on update cadence, API access and potential links to phytosanitary monitoring and alert systems.

What’s Next​

Overview of key events in December : ​

• 11 December 2025 — Annual EU Meeting, Paris​
• 15-17 December 2025 – EU Agri-Food Days, Brussels​
• 16 December 2025 – Digital Policy Meeting, Brussels

AgriGuide Newsletter #11 – August-September 2025

Dear Readers,

What a productive two months it has been for AgriGuide. Even through the holiday period, our team has pushed forward at pace — digitising reference labels, delivering tangible technical upgrades to the app, and turning the practical insight from country working groups into real progress. We’re in a busy, but exciting phase: scaling out, onboarding new countries and continually refining both platform and app to better serve farmers on the ground.

AgriGuide at the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit 

Presenting AgriGuide at the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit
We were thrilled to represent AgriGuide at the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit in London 22–23 September, one of Europe’s leading events for driving a more resilient and innovative food-system. The summit brought together farmers, agribusinesses, investors, policymakers and tech leaders, making it an ideal place to showcase how AgriGuide supports farmers in practice.

Having a stand allowed us to catch-up with friends of the project, members of the CropLife Europe community and introduce AgriGuide to new contacts. Demonstrating the app in person — scanning containers and bringing up the digital label immediately— really showed how far we’ve come and sparked some great conversations about real-world use and next steps.

We left the summit energised by the interest and ideas shared. Thank you to everyone who stopped by the stand; we’re looking forward to building on these conversations and continuing to progress towards a more resilient, digital and user-focused future for farming.

Impression of our stand at the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit, 22-23 September

Meet the Team!

A new section to our newsletter to get introduced to the people who are part of our AgriGuide Project sub-team.

1. What’s your role within AgriGuide?

I’m part of the Sub Team wherein I represent the national associations and I’m involved in the Transformation Office and Rollout Coordination. Alongside colleagues from France and Germany, my job is to be the bridge between the associations in the member countries and the wider AgriGuide project. That means keeping an open dialogue both ways: bringing national needs and constraints into the project and helping national associations understand and act on what the project asks of them.

I also bring experience from the Netherlands — we already have a database with digitalised labels— so I push for re-use and pragmatic solutions rather than redoing work from scratch. A big part of my day-to-day is thinking about how the system can be made truly useful for farmers, with simple scanning and clear application guidance. 

2. What do you find most rewarding being part of AgriGuide? 

For me it’s the human side: the interplay between people, interests and organisations. I get energy from finding common ground between stakeholders and from seeing something concrete emerge from that collective effort. There’s great satisfaction in knowing we’re building a practical tool that will be actually used in the field. 

3. How do you envision AgriGuide two years from now? 

In two years, I hope to see countries with fully functioning, living databases and clear governance for keeping data up to date. AgriGuide will be embedded in routine processes as new way of working — not a time-limited project. The crucial piece is sustainability: companies must have procedures to update digital labels whenever regulations or product information change, and quality checks must be routine. If we keep the focus on data quality, completeness interoperability and farmer usability we will have laid the foundation for cross-border, practical use that truly benefits farmers. 

4. What is your favourite way to unwind after a busy day at work? 

No need to think twice – for me it’s music. I play in a band, called Almost Blue, and nothing clears my head like singing and picking up the guitar, harmonica or occasionally the trombone. Making music with friends is a different kind of teamwork: immediate, joyful and utterly restorative. Playing at local events and care homes is especially rewarding — those small shared moments remind me why bringing people together matters. That energy feeds back into my AgriGuide work, so watch this space — you might hear more from us soon! 

5. What is the most valuable lesson AgriGuide has taught you so far? 

Always keep the end-user in mind. We can get lost in technicalities and detailed data modelling, but the ultimate goal for AgriGuide is to help farmers in practice. Regularly ‘zooming out’ to ask “what are we doing this for?” helps to prioritise work, keep momentum and align technical solutions with operational reality. 

AgriGuide ST Meeting 

Steering Ahead – AgriGuide on course for 2026
It was a great pleasure to reconvene with the Sub Team in Brussels on 1 October for a thorough progress review — a productive session that confirmed strong momentum across the project. Highlights include: 

❖ Steady digitisation rollout — Great progress is being made as we see more than 400 labels published across 17 countries and the count is growing. 

❖ Product Catalogue — data source review done and first datasets due soon. 

❖ Simple Application Record (SAppR) — 80% complete and on track for a January 2026 launch as a free, user-friendly digital record-keeping tool for farmers. 

Read more about these developments in next columns of this newsletter. 

From the Technical Corner 

Multiple technical streams running in parallel
This is a very busy period for us, with work package 1 (WP1) focused on scaling out, onboarding countries and evolving the platform and app. Country working groups are helping us to prioritise updates and to find harmonised approaches where possible. The latest tech developments have improved the user experience for language handling and adapting the app for longer phrases in label subsections (or “tiles”). 

Update on work package 1.5 – Simple Application Record keeping and more
In parallel we have a second work package (WP1.5) developing four areas. Integration points with label authoring tools and with consumers of our data, initially reference term. A product catalogue for each country, with a list of available products linked into AgriGuide’s reference data. An overview of data sources by country and initial catalogues for Ireland and Germany due next week to support the record keeping feature development. 

The simple application record functionality will offer an intuitive, basic tool for farmers to record their pesticide use in alignment with regulation EU 2023/564. In September, we used feedback from a prototype to finalise the “user journey”, the steps that farmers need to take to record their application, and how the information will be stored. The development has started and is due to deliver a first version for testing next month. 

Digitisation Webinars
To support the whole project with this digital transformation we ae undertaking, we are running a series of digitisation webinars, with the latest in September giving a general project and app update, then diving into machine readability and why it’s so important for agritech software. 170 participants joined, making it a lively and successful session! 

Some snippets from the Digitisation Webinar 26th September

Country Roll-Out 

Country roll-out progress
The AgriGuide roll-out continues to gain momentum, with several countries advancing through publication and quality cycles. Notable achievements this period include multiple sample labels published and several countries, including the Portugal, Baltics, Croatia, Slovenia and Poland, progressing into Phase 3. This demonstrates the growing maturity of the programme across regions.

Next steps
Priority actions include publishing remaining sample labels, resolving a few outstanding technical issues, accelerating digitisation where category mapping holds progress. Continued collaboration between country teams, Molecular Connections and Tech Pillar will be essential to sustain this positive trajectory and achieve the next wave of roll-out milestones. 

What’s Next

AgriGuide will be on the road this autumn — here’s anoverview of where you can catch us.

15 October 2025 — Agritech Day, Clermont-Ferrand, France
Agritech day is an annual international conference hosted by AXEMA, dedicated to showcasing the latest technologies and solutions for efficient and sustainable agriculture. The one-day event features plenary sessions, thematic presentations and a live industrial site visit, offering opportunities to discover developments in agricultural machinery. On this 8th Agritech Day edition, AgriGuide will be presented with a demo.

28–29 October 2025 — Fresenius Conference on Digital Agriculture, Düsseldorf
This conference explores the regulatory and scientific aspects of precision application, aiming to support compliant development of risk-assessment and risk-management tools for digital farming. AgriGuide will be presented and discussed in the context of precision application and regulatory compliance. If you’re not able to join the conference in person, a live-stream will be available.

14 November 2025 — Agritechnica, Hannover
Agritechnica is the world’s leading trade fair for agricultural machinery, bringing together global players, innovators and visionaries to showcase solutions to the challenges of global crop production. Under the theme ‘Touch Smart Efficiency’, Agritechnica2025 provides direct access to innovative, networked agricultural systems that harness digital technologies to enhance efficiency, sustainability and productivity. If you’re visiting, we welcome you to join our presentation and find out more about AgriGuide!

Passing the Torch: Leadership Transition at AgriGuide

We are pleased to announce a leadership transition at AgriGuide, as Georgiana Hayes steps into the role of Chair, succeeding Dominic Widmer, who is returning to focus fully on his broader responsibilities within the Syngenta Group.

A Message from Dominic

A Message from Georgiana

We thank Dominic for his outstanding contribution and welcome Georgiana as she takes the helm to lead AgriGuide into its next stage of growth and innovation.

Charting the Path Ahead

Brussels Meeting Recap: Steering AgriGuide Towards a Promising Future

From 24th to 26th June, key members of the AgriGuide project convened in Brussels for a pivotal three-day meeting addressing crucial aspects of the platform’s development and future direction. 

On 26th June, the AgriGuide sub-team convened for a comprehensive full-day meeting to conduct mid-year health checks across work packages 1 and 1.5, establish detailed go- live criteria for 2026 deployment, and review work package 2 progress. The session also addressed potential routes for farm management system partnerships, cross-work package collaboration requirements, and strategic resource allocation to ensure successful project delivery.

Overall, the Brussels meeting was a productive milestone for AgriGuide, reinforcing our commitment to innovation, collaboration and continuous improvement. 

Meet the Team!

A new section to our newsletter to get introduced to the people who are part of our AgriGuide Project sub-team.

1. What’s your role within AgriGuide?

I actually wear two hats in AgriGuide, through which I bridge the AgriGuide team at CropLife Europe and the ground-level implementation at Syngenta. At CropLife Europe, I’m involved in several working groups – regulatory, policy, transformation, and roll-out coordination – where I always try to bring in the real voices from the countries, whether that’s farmers’ experiences, stakeholder conversations, or digitalisation insights. On the Syngenta side, I represent the company on the AgriGuide Sub-Team, making sure the solution is shaped to meet our company’s needs.

2. What excites you most about your role?

I love complexity, so AgriGuide is right up my street! It’s actually the most complex project I’ve ever worked on. The scope is huge, with so many different stakeholders involved — from farmers out in the fields to regulatory authorities.

But that’s what makes it exciting: When AgriGuide reaches its full potential, it will truly revolutionise European farming. AgriGuide is a key stepping stone to the digital revolution in farming — or as the French say: la révolution del’agriculture numérique!

3. Fun fact about yourself?

I’ve been singing in a choir since I was four years old. It’s something close to my heart and a great way to switch off from work. 

4. What is your hope for AgriGuide?

I see AgriGuide as the very heart of digital farming — the core that makes everything work for the farmer, from labels and compliance instructions to electronic records. My hope is that it becomes the ultimate connected source of truth and intelligence, linking everything together seamlessly: the spraying machines, the farmers, the authorities — everyone.

5. If there’s one tip you’d share for making AgriGuide a success, what would it be?

AgriGuide is a bit of a rollercoaster, with its ups and downs. So my advice? Don’t be afraid to keep going and don’t lose hope. You’ll discover new things along the way, and yes, it might not always work perfectly first time, and it might take some time. But as long as we don’t give up, it’ll all come together. For me, it’s like opening a new window in the house and suddenly seeing a whole new world outside.

From the Technical Corner 

Data Model v1.1 released
AgriGuide has moved to a revised data model – we are now at v1.1. It includes a series of small but important technical adjustments, some additional property qualifiers, and a few key extensions. The items were all based on feedback gathered from pilot country label reviews and early feedback from additional countries as we scale-out across the rest of the EU27. A key aim of this model update was to keep the set of changes relatively small and to include app and documentation updates for a combined release. The digitisation team at Molecular Connections brought their platform up to a matching v1.1 a short time later. The smaller size worked well, and we’ll look to repeat this with our next update, likely early in 2026.

Successful digitisation webinar
In July we ran a webinar on digitisation, also covering a reminder of the AgriGuide milestones for 2025, some of the recent changes including those in v1.1, and particularly the underlying principles we use; machine readability being the most important for digitisation. There was excellent engagement from the 165 participants, which encourages us to plan for a few more sessions, including some basic project updates as well as deeper dives into specific areas of label digitisation.

Annotation exercises in full swing
As we described in the last newsletter, scaling out across all EU27 countries is being done in a standardised way, with phases from simple onboarding, first label annotation and digitisation, to a full set of reference labels as part of the minimum setup needed for a country to move to digitising its full portfolio. All scale-out country groups have reached or passed the first label kick-off session, several of the fourth and final country group already running annotation and digitisation review sessions as we write this in early August. Spain, France and Ireland were able to publish their first labels some weeks ago. And now Denmark, Croatia and Slovenia have all done the same.

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AgriGuide at ECPA 2025

Country Roll-Out

Solid Progress Across EU27
The AgriGuide project continues to advance steadily across nearly 27 EU countries, reaching key milestones in the digitisation journey of their product labels. 

Key achievements over the past two months include: 

• Pilot countries (Germany, Italy and Romania) continue to digitise their product portfolios.
• Countries such as France, Spain and Ireland have made significant progress through the various phases and are close to having an accurate platform in place. 
• Several countries have successfully digitised and published their first label in the app (Denmark, Croatia and Slovenia), with others expected to follow shortly. 
• All countries are advancing towards the launch of the agriguide.eu webpage in their local languages. More information to follow on this. 

The progress across these diverse countries highlights the collaborative effort and commitment between all actors, driving AgriGuide forward. As more labels are digitised, reviewed and published, the project moves closer to its ambition set for 2025: to provide across the 27 EU countries a tool accurate and robust enough for companies to digitise their plant protection product portfolio for farmers. 

What’s Next

Preparing for a Productive Autumn
As colleagues return from well-deserved summer holidays in August, we’re expecting a particularly busy and dynamic season ahead.

This autumn will feature crucial workshops with our collaborating partners, alongside a comprehensive full-day session in early October dedicated to the AgriGuide sub-team. This strategic workshop will thoroughly review our progress and ensure the remaining months of 2025 remain focused on delivering our planned goals and objectives, including our critical commitments to the board.

AgriGuide in the News

News article highlighting AgriGuide published in French newspaper l’Opinion

We are delighted to share that an article highlighting AgriGuide has been published in the prominent French newspaper l’Opinion. The article discusses the evolution of agricultural technologies, including the development of sprayers with sensors that enable precise application of resources. Anne Alix, Policy Leader at Corteva as well as AgriGuide core team member, emphasises the need for integrating precision agriculture into European assessments to meet societal demands for more economical use of phytosanitary products and resources. The article also details how AgriGuide aims to equip farmers with a user-friendly digital label system, streamlining compliance and data management to enhance efficiency and sustainability in farming practices.

Transformation Office Update

Progress Update: Expanding Digitisation Across Europe

Our pilot countries—Romania, Italy, and Germany—continue to spearhead our digitisation efforts, with an increasing number of countries joining the initiative. Alongside Spain, Ireland, France, and the countries in the Northern zone, we are thrilled to announce the successful onboarding of several additional nations. This includes Greece, Cyprus, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Austria, Portugal, and Poland from country groups 2 and 3. Furthermore, the onboarding process for group 4—comprising Belgium, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and the Netherlands—has also commenced and is progressing steadily. As a result, nearly all 27 EU countries are now part of this transformative project! In parallel, our technical sessions are advancing well, and the digitisation of labels has begun across the non-pilot countries.

From the Technical Corner

Work packages and releases

As part of a review of our activities, we are shifting the language we use about our chunks of work. The larger chunks we’ll begin to refer to as work packages 1, 1.5 and 2. The smaller monthly or bimonthly updates to the AgriGuide platform and apps we’ll continue to call releases. This becomes increasingly important as we progress through 2025, with each release delivering parts of work package 1 and work package 1.5. Simultaneously, we are scaling out across the other countries in Europe and supporting the digitisation of labels by each of the countries that have come on board.

Scaling out

Although simple in concept, scaling out involves more than taking the platform structure and replicating the core for each country, because each is slightly different. With the Transformation office, we have developed a standard onboarding process that each country goes through, setting the country working group up with a deeper knowledge of the project structure and technical approach, and allowing the technical team to understand the details of each country’s labels and reference terms. As an output, we get a set of reference labels and a ‘Rosetta stone’ documenting the overall mapping between the local label structure and the AgriGuide platform label data model.

(Small) Mode lupdate v1.1

In the 10 months since upgrading AgriGuide to label data model v1.0, a set of small changes has been accumulating in a ‘backlog’, including specific object properties and minor extensions to support specific needs that have emerged from the pilot countries and the first wave of the scale-out countries. These, after reviewing and careful prioritisation, gave more than 20 items. Some are technical reconfiguration or background work; some add property qualifiers, and a few extend the model in a helpful way. The whole package is v1.1, and is intended to be delivered as a combined model, platform and app update, plus scripted label updates where practical. It will enter testing and UAT in June, with release shortly afterwards.

Simple application record keeping

The AgriGuide team is working on developing an additional functionality to the existing label consultation application to allow farmers and pesticide users to declare and keep record of plant protection product within the 1107 regulation. We recently completed a mockup, which will be shared with a limited number of end users in Germany and Spain for feedback before starting to develop the final application version.

June 2025 will be mainly focusing on testing and collecting feedback to improve the application design before developing coding and testing steps.

Continued Support from the Industry

CropLife Europe is fully committed to the AgriGuide project.

AgriGuide represents a significant commitment and investment for CropLife Europe and its members. As part of the routine annual organisational evaluation process the CropLife Europe leadership has recognised the outstanding work and progress of the AgriGuide team and its partners, and has confirmed continued support for investment in the project, both in terms of allocated expert time, and in financial resourcing. 

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Presenting AgriGuide

We were especially honoured to welcome Belgium’s Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture, David Clarinval, alongside Diego Canga Fano, Acting Deputy Director-General of DG Agri at the European Commission, to our stand. We value the insightful discussions we had with them. Our gratitude goes to everyone who visited our booth. We look forward to further meaningful conversations and collaborations to shape the future of agriculture together.

AgriGuide What’s Next

Looking Ahead: Strategic Workshops and Team Development

This month, we’re hosting a comprehensive full-day workshop in Brussels, bringing together key members of the AgriGuide sub-team alongside our valued collaborating partners.

Following this, we’ll conduct an in-depth workshop with the AgriGuide sub-team during the latter part of June. This strategic session will provide an opportunity to thoroughly review our substantial achievements over the past few months of 2025, assess our current positioning, and refine our roadmap for the remainder of the year.

First Edition for 2025 – A word from our Chairs

Dear Readers,

2025 will be a pivotal year for the AgriGuide project as we expand our presence across all EU27 Member States.

We are developing the digital label infrastructure for the entire European Union, building upon valuable experience and insights gained from last year’s pilot programmes in Germany, Italy and Romania. Our aim is to be fully prepared for the forthcoming labelling regulation that will supersede 547/2011, which the European Commission plans to adopt by Q4 2025. In this regard, CropLife Europe has submitted practical recommendations during the stakeholder consultation period that concluded on 3rd February. Specifically concerning digital labels, we emphasised the importance of establishing consistent terminology on machine readability between the new labelling regulation and the electronic record-keeping regulation (2023/564).

Furthermore, 2025 will focus on creating a simple electronic record-keeping solution across the EU27 in compliance with Regulation 2023/564. We also envision integration with the digital label database to automate data provision, thereby reducing the administrative burden on growers.

Finally, we continue to develop our capacity to deliver “Compliance Use Instructions” to growers, proactively supporting them in the compliant application of plant protection products. This year, we will concentrate on refining our strategy, with the goal of commencing delivery in 2026.

The AgriGuide team is not working in isolation. Our team will expand throughout the year with additional external resources, and we will continue to nurture our excellent relationships with stakeholders.

We look forward to an exciting year ahead,

Dominic & Martyn

Extension to the remaining 24 EU countries

Our pilot countries, Romania, Italy and Germany, continue to lead the digitisation efforts with more than 250 labels available on the app. Joining them are Spain and Ireland, with the goal to digitise their portfolio in 2025. In addition, AgriGuide is launching a new phase in 2025 and is extending the platform to accommodate the digitisation of labels of the remaining 22 EU countries. These countries will be supported through 4 extension groups waves. The first wave has been launched with countries from the Northern Zone (Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania)

Our AgriGuide team is coordinating to ensure country preparation and rollout, with onboarding tools and appointment of dedicated “rollout” coordinators for each 4 extension groups.

From the Technical Corner

New year, stronger plans

Coming into 2025, it has been clear how much we will need to deliver to make this year a success. The planning that we have been doing puts us in a good starting position, but we know that we’ll need more detailed plans and contingencies. That’s why we kicked off this year with a face-face detailed working session, meeting once again in the old Agricultural Hall in London, this time against a backdrop of an art fair.

We have laid out technical plans to extend the feature set with a product catalogue, supporting simple application records; a straightforward approach for reviewing country data sources to feed the catalogue; and a first iteration of the technical phases of country onboarding.

As part of this planning, we have delved into more detail around label versioning and driven through the first practical implementation for tracking the distinction between changes to the source (usually physical) label, and changes to the digitised version, both in the AgriGuide platform and in connected systems.

Data stewardship and data reviews

Our commitment to quality output continues. Our data steward expert is leading us through reviews of data in specific fields, individual labels, and reflecting back to us some bigger picture views to help us spot odd features and correct them. Some of this work is leading to minor updates to labels, and in many cases to improved guidance documentation for the digitisation process itself.

The scope of this new feature is currently under development in close collaboration with end users so that a first mockup could be tested in April 2025.

Our objective is to have this new functionality deliver to end user before year end.

Product Catalogue

To support the introduction of simple application records, as well as our overall label digitisation efforts, we plan to bring in a feature to allow us to hold a list of products, together with a very short set of information about each one – name, company, active ingredient, authorisation number and so on. We hope to build these lists in a straightforward way by making use of the excellent data sources and data bases that many countries have available.

Web/Mobile App improvements

As we move forward to improving the quality of data rendering, we have released a new set of app improvements which bring 5 new translation and rendering of label in Romanian and Italian languages. For Germany a specific need to represent vegetation barrier depth has been successfully added in the Direction for Use area.

Supporting these changes is an improved issue management process. The testing team is expanded, adding a test manager and new user testing lead, and they are making use of a dedicated environment as part of a more mature and robust infrastructure setup.

Presenting AgriGuide

Presenting AgriGuide at CIETAP

CIETAP is a regular French scientific gathering on Plant Protection Product application techniques, including experts from all relevant fields. AgriGuide team member Julien Durand-Reville from Phyteis presented AgriGuide and how it can link product information to automatic guided smart field applications, which received positive response and feedback.

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AgriGuide: What’s Next

CropLife Europe & AgriGuide at the Agrifood Summit

We are proud to be sponsors at the next Agrifood summit, which promotes Franco-Belgian innovations in the agritech and food tech sectors. This is the second year that Agrifood Days will be taking place, and its aim is to accelerate the transfer of knowledge from research to economic applications and to promote innovative entrepreneurship through facilitating strategic partnerships.

CropLife Europe is happy to be present and to showcase our flagship initiative, AgriGuide.

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​The conference will focus on several pivotal topics, several of which AgriGuide will contribute strongly to, and they include Digital Transformation in Regulatory Processes, Harmonisation of Data Requirements and Mutual Recognition Sustainable Use of PPPs.

Year End Edition – A word from our Chairs ​

Dear Readers,​

Wow, what an eventful year! How far have we made it as the AgriGuide Family? We started 2024 with no label digitised and a data model in its infancy, being in a position where we had to push for our ideas and vision. In May, we got sight of the first legislative proposal, turning our Release 1 into a necessity for European Growers and dramatically shifting our delivery plans to be ready one year earlier than intended. We are deeply impressed by the capabilities of our wonderful team to deal with such change, being adaptable, agile and showing unprecedented resilience! The AgriGuide working pillars have made great progress on all aspects of our initiative, such as building alliances and positioning AgriGuide as a solution recognised and actively supported by key stakeholders. Our app holds 220 labels + by now (and increasing) with a stable data model, driving a growing level of confidence. Our communication capabilities professionalised at speed, delivering key messages e.g. via our video and website.​

We can not thank enough the AgriGuide Pilot countries for their endurance, patience and dedication as role models. At times it has been a challenging journey but look what we’ve achieved. Without you and your constant push for excellence we would not be where we are today!​

We also do not want to forget our third-party vendors, whom we could trust throughout this adventure together. Thanks for sticking with us, providing external views, and being so pivotal in delivering AgriGuide.​

We have a great, dedicated team that is driven by a joint vision. Together, we are creating a paradigm shift in how Plant Protection Products are used throughout the EU27. We feel privileged, proud, and energised by you guys!​

We wish you great holidays, Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Come back fresh and relaxed in 2025 – the journey goes on!​

Martyn & Dominic​

Inviting all EU 27 countries!​ ​

After a successful pilot phase in Romania, Italy, and Germany, the AgriGuide project will launch a new phase in 2025 and extend to the remaining 24 EU countries. ​

Our AgriGuide team is coordinating to ensure country preparation and rollout. National crop protection associations and local company experts will organise country working groups, supported by onboarding dedicated tools. As the “CLE AgriGuide Transformation Office team,” we are thrilled to go beyond the 3 pilot countries!​

We’ve been attending some key conferences!​

The team has been busy with promoting AgriGuide at various conferences, and the interest keeps growing!​

During the main plenary session of the Congress, CropLife Europe’s Director-General Olivier de Matos spoke on the panel and highlighted the importance of innovative tools such as AgriGuide in the transition towards a more sustainable food production system and the potential of such tools to reduce the administrative burden for farmers, a key point that was brought up throughout the discussions.​

It was an ideal stage to talk about AgriGuide and its contributing role in this complex value chain to ensure sustainable farming practices. ​

Many thanks to Foro Datagri for organizing such an insightful event and to Hispatec – Agrointeligencia for inviting us to participate.​

Our attendance at conferences continues!​

BVL Quo vadis Pflanzenschutzmittel-Zulassung?​
Braunschweig, November 18-19, 2024

On 18th & 19th November 2024, the German Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety hosted a two-day event addressing the question “Quo vadis crop protection authorisation?”. Besides practical reports emphasising the need for a diverse portfolio of active substances and the perspective of national and EU regulatory bodies on the current authorisation process, Frederike Zeibig presented AgriGuide as a digital solution for safer risk management. The digital label enables a timely update of the adjusted directions for use that the farmer can easily access via the AgriGuide web or mobile app, thus ensuring compliant crop protection applications. Further, feedback from the growers from the Pilot phase in Germany was presented, where the testers highlighted the standardised structure of the label in the app, making it easy to access relevant information. The presentation was well perceived, and the role of the digital, machine-readable label as part of future risk management was highlighted. ​

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Technical Reflection on 2024​

As we reach the end of 2024 it’s useful to be able to look back at the year, pick out the high points, reflect on the challenges, and look ahead to the ambitions for 2025.​

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2024 Q1 – foundation & PoC​

In January, when we started the year, we were lucky to have an engaged project team, some detailed achievements under our belt with the third iteration of our label data model, and an AgriGuide platform that was starting to take shape. But it was still very early days! If AgriGuide was a building project we had barely broken ground to start making the foundations. Just over a month later we ran our short ‘Proof of Concept’ phase (PoC) with an early version of the app and platform, a handful of labels and some brief instructions for our testers. We learned a lot, including how hard it is to digitise labels when your platform is still being built!​

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2024 Q2 – early Pilot​

Following the PoC, we adapted our plans for the early pilot phase to give the teams a chance to fit the pieces together and check the details of how they fit. Model structure, label data, reference terms and platform all had to match, or match well enough to allow the project to bring a wider group in to view the work, to comment on it and provide more valuable feedback. Back to our building analogy, we were out of the ground, with not too many pieces needing ‘encouragement’ to line up and fit together. The richer feedback helped us identify key revisions to the label data model to mature it to handle most of the product labels we could see ahead of us in 2024 and beyond. The process we used to update the model drew on the previous cycles, with additional steps to make it more robust. Our operations were beginning to mature.​

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2024 Q3 – model v1.0 and scale-out planning​

Small changes to the foundation of a building can make a big difference to the structure and operation of it. And so it is with AgriGuide’s label data model. Although the number of changes was relatively small, those changes had consequences that have taken several months to understand and get on top of. However, in Q3, the technical team needed to spend time planning for an accelerated scale-out across the remaining EU27 countries – adding 24 to the 3 pilot countries. We spent a couple of days together to draft a first plan and found some key ways to constrain our scope to make the scale-out plans achievable. The support from the CLE Board for the AgriGuide 2025 plans gave the project a real lift.​

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2024 Q4 – learning to communicate better​

And then, in October, we hit one of those project moments that is both a huge challenge and a real chance to learn. Part of the wider project team identified difficulties viewing some of their label information in the app. There were genuine issues because the app was still being revised from the early Pilot label rendering. But it was a chance​ to dig into how different parts of the project were working and how we all communicated. We have seen great examples of open, two-way discussion develop where previously we had mostly one-way comms. Borrowing from the ‘quantum’ event we saw at our second planning session in December, we’ve been able to mature our digital supply chain and our ways of working. As the aphorism has it “if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” We’ve been learning how to communicate, so we can do this together. Because we want to go far.​

We end 2024 having learned that we can tackle big challenges together, thanks to the hard work of the whole project.​

AgriGuide: What’s Next​

October Edition – Welcome ​

Dear Readers,​

​We hope you enjoyed a relaxing summer and returned fully energised and motivated! We are pleased to present the October edition of the AgriGuide Newsletter, highlighting:

• Our efforts to meet the proposed PPP labelling regulations
• Enhancements to our technical platform and label models
• Enhancements to our web and mobile applications

We appreciate your continued interest and welcome you to join us on this exciting journey.

Best regards

The AgriGuide Team​

Stepping up the pace

In our last Newsletter, we talked about the draft regulation that will replace the existing regulation on PPP labelling 547/2011. This draft of the new regulation focuses on updates for physical labels but also establishes the future existence of digital machine-readable labels.

Aware of the need to adapt our AgriGuide roadmap to meet this new regulation:

❑ The AgriGuide team presented an accelerated roadmap to the CropLife Europe Board of Directors. This proposal received full support from the Board, reaffirming its commitment to the project.

❑ To support this accelerated process, multiple webinars will be held with all key stakeholders to explain the process and answer any questions they may have

❑ A comprehensive Playbook has been published to help National Industry Associations and individual companies who have already joined or wil join the AgriGuide journey. This Playbook covers:

• Key project phases and tasks
• Main aspects of AgriGuide implementation
• Best practices and lessons learned from our pilot programme

This will be a living document, regularly updated to reflect the latest information and insights gained as we progress.

News from the technical teams

Core platform updates 

The AgriGuide label information model has been revised to v1.0. The phased release of updates has brought these v1.0 changes through the platform. We now have reference data, label input management, connected Data Graphs label authoring instances and the web and mobile apps revised in line with the new model version. Further updates are planned over the coming months following our now-standard pattern of monthly change review and platform release cycles. Alongside this platform update the documentation has been revised, and a knowledge base has been created alongside the original model schema and model guide documents. 

Maturing development processes

Over the last few months the technical team has put processes and tools in place to make delivery of updates more predictable. At the heart of our development ecosystem is Jira, allowing us to manage “tickets”, items for development and issues to be resolved. These can be organised into themed groups or ‘epics’, tagged for areas of development including releases (R1.0 and R1.5) and planning for scale-out across countries. These groupings, tags and views help us make sense of a complicated project and decide what to prioritise for delivery in our next monthly iteration. They also help us with our longer-term planning and this maturing capability is vital for our work.

Planning for scaling out across EU27 and for Release 1.5 (Electronic Record Keeping)

The team is elaborating plans for how we will scale out AgriGuide across the remaining EU27 countries. Although this involves simply replicating what has been done for the three pilot countries, we have to be able to do it very efficiently, so we can cover 24 countries in 14 months. Key to this scale out is our small team of reference data experts who will help us align crop and pest names, growth stages and other controlled vocabularies.

Digitisation of labels

An AgriGuide implementation partner supporting label digitisation, Molecular Connections has created a workbench to support digitisation and quality control reviews. The QC workbench has been updated to align with model v1.0. We currently have more than 200 labels published on our AgriGuide platform and approximately 70 farmers in our 3 pilot countries testing it.

Web/Mobile Application

In close relationship with users, we have delivered a new version of the application which enhances customer experience. In a nutshell, this new Build 29 Web/Mobile Application encompasses:

• New data model V1.0 has been implemented to unlock additional functionality in Product use instructions,
• Phone number rendering has been improved with a particular focus on emergency number,
• Information related to product “Mode of Action” have been transfer from the “Formulation” section to “Resistance Information”.
• In all labels section, empty fields are no longer showing up, improving views and readability of key information.

AgriGuide: What’s Next

AgriGuide team members engage with ISO Technical Committee 347 (TC 347 – data-driven agrifood systems)

Following the publication in February 2023 of the ISO Strategic Advisory Group report on “smart farming”, or “data-driven agrifood systems”, TC 347 has been set up, with a number of national mirror committees. Several AgriGuide project members are engaging with TC 347 to support the work and connect it to the aims of the AgriGuide project. We already have links through France (AFNOR), Germany (DIN) and UK (BSI) to subgroups working on integrated pest management (ad hoc group AHG 4, IPM), communications (advisory group AG1), crop model (AHG2) and stakeholder engagement (AG2). Several of us are also taking part in the virtual international workshop series to build an initial reference architecture. If you are wondering why we are involved in such a technical and obscure-sounding series of committees, it’s that we are aiming to learn from other experts and align with structures and standards that are being created across the agriculture and food sectors. By working together we hope to build for the long term.

July Edition – Welcome ​

Dear Readers,​

​We are pleased to present the July edition of the AgriGuide Newsletter, highlighting:​

• Proposed PPP labelling regulations​
• Enhancements to our technical platform and label models​
• Outcomes of our National Industry Associations webinar​
• German agricultural feedback on the AgriGuide application​

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We appreciate your continued interest. Should you have summer holiday plans, we wish you a refreshing time off.​

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Best regards​

The AgriGuide Team​

Draft regulation to replace the existing regulation on PPP labelling 547/2011

In July, the EU Commission made available publicly an advanced draft of the new regulation, which focuses on updates for physical labels but also establishes the future existence of digital machine-readable labels. ​
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The draft regulation proposal will mean that labels will need to be submitted both physically and digitally for new product submissions from January 2026, although details of the understanding and scope are being clarified with the EU Commission. As an industry, we support the principles of digital labels proposed in the draft regulation and are preparing for a follow-up workshop with MS authorities and the EU Commission to discuss the implementation and workflows from January 2026.​

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This draft proposal impacts the AgriGuide roadmap, which is being refined by the team.​

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The draft document can be seen in the comitology register here :
https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/comitology -register/screen/documents/098624/1/consult?lang=en

Webinar with National Industry Associations ​

We recently held a productive webinar with national industry associations from across Europe. This dynamic session served multiple purposes:​

Sharing valuable insights from our ongoing pilot programme​

Discussing the next steps for AgriGuide’s implementation across all 27 EU countries​

Preparing for the upcoming digital labelling regulation​

The session fostered constructive exchanges and helped align our efforts across different regions. ​

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We extend our sincere thanks to all participants for their engagement and valuable input.

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News from the technical teams​

Platform Updates: Label Model v1.0​

Following our early pilot phase, we’ve made significant progress:​

Following our early pilot phase, we’ve made significant progress:​

• Label delivery and support requests have stabilized, allowing us to focus on feedback.​
• We’ve used this feedback to improve how label data flows through the system.​
• We’ve also updated user interfaces to display label information more clearly.​

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The AgriGuide label model, the heart of our system, has been upgraded to version 1.0:​

• This update includes minor technical changes and some simplifications.​
• We’re developing more robust processes for review and implementation.​
• The new model allows us to handle multiple label versions simultaneously.​

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For a smooth transition to the upgraded label model:​

• The platform core will use the new v1.0 model.​
• Apps will continue to support the legacy v0.4 model for several weeks.​
• The platform will translate v1.0 information into the v0.4 structure for the apps.​
• This approach ensures backwards compatibility and enables a gradual shift to more advanced features.

Pilot Progress and User Engagemen​

•  In all over 100 users (including farmers/technicians/member company representative) have been invited to the pilot and are helping us test the system and provide feedback.​
• The platform and app delivery team are transitioning to a monthly programme release cadence to maintain delivery speed and formalise processes across the programme.​
•  Since the proof-of-concept phase, we’ve helped with 295 support tickets covering various topics and improvements!​

Planning Workshop for 2024 H2 and 2025​

Our technical team recently met in London for a two-day planning workshop:​

The meeting was held at Data Language’s offices, our platform implementation partner. The team : ​

• Reviewed upcoming technical and project challenges.​
• Outlined key milestones, actions, and areas for further investigation.​

Next steps:​

• Review identified risks and develop matching mitigation steps.​
• Test our draft plans with the wider project team.​

We’re excited about the progress made and look forward to implementing these plans to improve AgriGuide further.

AgriGuide Playbook and Grower feedback​

AgriGuide Playbook: Supporting New Countries ​

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To ensure a smooth expansion of AgriGuide across Europe, we’re finalising a comprehensive AgriGuide playbook for national associations and member companies representatives. If you’re a member, you’ll receive the link soon. Haven’t received it in a few days? Do reach out using the email at the end of the newsletter.​

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The playbook will cover:​

• Key project phases and tasks​
• Main aspects of AgriGuide implementation​
• Best practices and lessons learned from our pilot programme​

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This will be a living document, regularly updated to reflect the latest information and insights gained as we progress.​

German Farmers’ Feedback on the AgriGuide App ​

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We’re pleased to share some encouraging feedback from German farmers using the AgriGuide app:

AgriGuide roadmap​

Looking ahead, we’re working on several exciting developments:​

• Release 1.5 features, including integration with country-regulated databases and implementation of simple application records​
• Engaging with Farm Management System (FMS) providers to ensure seamless integration​
• Collaborating closely with National Industry Associations to prepare for the January 2026 implementation of the new PPP labelling regulation​
  
  

These initiatives will enhance AgriGuide’s functionality and ensure its alignment with upcoming regulatory changes, further solidifying its position as an essential tool for European farmers.​​

Pilot kick-off !​

AgriGuide Pilot Phase Kicks Off in Europe!​

We are thrilled to announce that the first pilot phase of AgriGuide has successfully launched in Italy, Germany, and Romania this April! With a select group of around 70 farmers, our primary goal is to have farmers and retailers test the app and provide valuable feedback.​

Rapid Progress in April and May​

Swift iterations of the platform, app, and reference data updates have marked the months of April and May. As a result, we have successfully delivered 110+ digitised labels to the AgriGuide production platform!​

AgriGuide Team Attends Workshop in Italy​

Our team was honoured to be invited by our colleagues from Federchimica, Italy, for a two-day workshop. The event featured a packed agenda, including:​

• Feedback sessions with participating companies and a farmer/retailer from Italy​

• A retrospective session to identify lessons learnt, best practices, and areas for improvement​

• Planning for Release 1 in Q3/Q4 2024, taking into account the current status, milestones, and pending actions​

Exciting Developments on the Horizon​

As we move forward, we have several exciting developments in the pipeline:​

• Release 1.5 scope items, such as exploring country-regulated databases and simple application records​

• Engaging with Farm Management System (FMS) providers​

• Collaborating with National Associations, particularly in light of the latest draft amendment to Reg 547/2011​

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Thank You Monica and Roberta and Federchimica team for being such excellent hosts!​

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News from the technical teams​

Platform and Data Development​

• The pre-pilot phase in March and the early pilot in April saw the wider project team and our technical partners, Data Language (platform build and data model) and Molecular Connections (label digitisation), collaborate closely to establish the label pipeline into the platform.​
• 110+ labels have been published, with more in the pipeline for the early pilot stage, which focuses on primary crops in three pilot countries.​
• The tech pillar led efforts to improve user interfaces in mobile and web apps.​

Pilot Progress and User Engagement​

•  In all over 100 users (including farmers/technicians/member company representative) have been invited to the pilot and are helping us test the system and provide feedback.​
• The platform and app delivery team are transitioning to a monthly programme release cadence to maintain delivery speed and formalise processes across the programme.​
•  Since the proof-of-concept phase, we’ve helped with 295 support tickets covering various topics and improvements!​

Upcoming Enhancements and Model Updates​

•  The AgriGuide project team is prioritising app updates to feed into platform delivery, aiming to bring a steady improvement in the app interface and the overall user experience.​
•  Post-pilot feedback for model changes has been collected and is being reviewed by the tech team, alongside potential app changes and updated label digitisation guidance.​
•  We have taken the opportunity to expand the team involved in change review as we standardise on a monthly cycle for most updates. Smaller changes, such as new reference data items, will be applied more quickly, while larger changes (e.g., model updates) will be implemented less frequently.​

Visit the new AgriGuide website!​

We are happy and proud to share with you our new website. You can learn more about our vision and ambitions as well as have the opportunity to join us on this exciting journey! Visit us at www.agriguide.eu

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AgriGuide is gaining ground​

Fresenius Conference Highlights Precision Application Technology and Digital Labels​

In April, the Fresenius conference in Dusseldorf, Germany, focused on precision application technology and provided key updates since the formation of the EU Precision Application Task Force (EUPAF). The well-attended event brought together stakeholders, including representatives from the Commission and Member State authorities.​

A key takeaway from the conference was the future shift from broadcast applications to targeted applications, which involves treating specific parts of the field rather than the entire area. The Commission’s presentation emphasised the need for digital labels to support the digitisation of agriculture and specifically mentioned CropLife Europe’s AgriGuide project.​

Martyn Griffiths and Anne Alix (from the AgriGuide Programme team) showcased the AgriGuide App to interested conference participants, demonstrating examples of the first crop protection product labels that have been digitised within the app.​

ETAC Conference in Seville Showcases AgriGuide App​

In May, digital and precision application technologies were among the topics discussed at the EU SETAC conference in Seville. The event provided an excellent platform for our colleague, Gaëlle Der Hagopian, to showcase the current version of the AgriGuide App to conference attendees.​

The demonstration allowed for valuable exchanges on the benefits of having a digital tool like AgriGuide available to farmers, highlighting its potential to support the adoption of precision agriculture practices.​

We are AgriGuide!​

As announced in our January 2024 Newsletter, we were transitioning from Digital Label Compliance to AgriGuide. We are proud to share that this transition is complete, and we are delighted to introduce AgriGuide as our new name, logo, and brand identity!​

And you can watch our brand new AgriGuide video here: AgriGuide-all you need to know​

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CropLife Europe Conference 2024​

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The panel featured Monica Garcia Aguilar, Policy Officer at the EU Commission’s DG SANTE, who highlighted the benefits of digital labels: “A digital label can provide clear and simple communication of a product’s potential health and environmental risks while ensuring compliant use. It can support electronic record-keeping and encourage precision application techniques.”​

Patrick Pagani, Deputy Secretary General of Copa and Cogeca, the united voice of EU farmers and agri-cooperatives, shared his thoughts: “Agri-Guide is a relevant tool to make farmers’ lives easier. Interoperability and trust in data use, building on the EU Code of Conduct for voluntary data sharing, remain key aspects.“​

Georgiana Hayes, Vice-Chair of the AgriGuide Steering Team, completed the panel, with Martyn Griffiths, from the AgriGuide Steering Team, moderating this discussion.​

Key takeaways from the session​

• AgriGuide is a tool built from the collaboration and communication between all stakeholders, and consultation is the key element across all the iterations of the tool​
• Accessibility to digital tools in farms of all sizes is also a critical element of success for AgriGuide and the digital farming toolbox, and the AgriGuide team is engaged with stakeholders working towards solutions​

The session generated significant interest and feedback. Practical concerns were addressed, such as ensuring the digital label information always reflects the content of the authorisation granted in the Member State and the app’s use in areas with poor mobile networks. The latter concern has been noted and will be addressed during further tool development.​

News from the technical teams​

• The project ran a successful two-week proof of concept (PoC) testing session in February 2024. We had around 50 testers from the wider project team and received over 130 pieces of feedback, which we have analysed, sorted, and are using to deliver updates to the AgriGuide platform ahead of the Pilot. ​
• We have taken the opportunity to fix a number of medium and small app user interface (UI) issues, with a second release of the app cleaning up the user experience, particularly the way label information is titled and presented in the apps.​
• The data model has undergone some small, low-impact changes, especially to support the major curated reference data release. Further potential changes are in our ‘backlog’ to be reviewed and prioritised as part of a planned mid-year model update.​
• Some mobile app bugs were corrected to integrate language-specific characters better, and the main UI section titles on the front page of a label have been modified to better reflect the EU regulatory framework and categorisation. We have introduced a new ability to sort by crop and pest to enhance access to the Direction for the Use of a label.​

Reference data and controlled vocabularies​

• Following the PoC, the first major set of curated reference data was released to the database at the end of February. It included CLP classification, crops, pests, active ingredients, growth stages, and units. For instance, relevant sets of over 2000 crops and over 3000 pests are included.​
• Whenever possible, reference data is based upon standards that have been used in the agriculture industry for decades or in EU regulations: EPPO codes, BBCH codes, CLP classification, etc. The PoC highlighted the need for a stronger and clearer governance for reference data management. We have established a small team with the first set of guidelines and a process to communicate reference data requests.​
• PoC also led to optimisations of the data model. For instance, active ingredients will be qualified with their Resistance Action Committee codes without input from label authors.​
• Further optimisations are already planned.​

A big Thank You to all our testers​

We look forward to continuing this journey with you!​

What’s next?​

A demo of the AgriGuide application and video will be proposed at both the upcoming Fresenius conference on precision agriculture in Dusseldorf (10-11 April 2024) as well as at the SETAC meeting in Seville (5-9 May 2024)

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The aim of this conference is to bring together stakeholders at the EU-level, to exchange on available and upcoming tools in the area of digital and precision applications and work towards a progressive and compliant development of risk assessment and risk management instruments enabling these new application techniques.​

The SETAC (Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry) Europe’s 34th Annual will be addressing the overarching theme of “Science-Based Solutions in Times of Crisis: Integrating Science and Policy for Environmental Challenges.”​

Closing the year with energy & enthusiasm!

The last 2 months of 2023 saw the DLC team run 2 successful workshops with the help of local national
associations and with participation of external stakeholders.

In November Crop Life Europe (CLE) and AIPROM organized in Bucharest, Romania an information
session on the Digital Label Compliance ( DLC) project with over 70 stakeholders from Authorities, Farmer unions, Farm management system companies and local Crop protection industry. A significant
achievement as Romania is one of the 3 pilot countries for the project in 2024.

Martyn Griffiths, member of the Steering Team of DLC in CLE made a presentation explaining the project,
which was well received with positive messages of support for the project, and an active discussion on the future implementation of DLC. A clear message was that digital machine & software readable-labels will be identical to paper ones, but that the new format will facilitate the access to safety information as well as the transfer of the digital label to Farm Management Systems and smart devices. In addition, the DLC initiative can support farmers in the collection of data on PPP use, which will become a legal requirement for farmers to provide to national authorities their usage data electronically based on EU Regulation 2023/564.

Thank you AIPROM for your support in organising this great session!

In December, another Workshop was held in Frankfurt, Germany with the DLC team and farmers
from the local areas who were there to give us valuable feedback about DLC. Germany is also one
of the Pilot countries of the DLC project

• DLC App and Website Feedback and Next Steps: Successful demonstration of the DLC website and app with valuable feedback from guest farmers/growers. Initiatives are underway to integrate this feedback into a detailed storyboard, shaping the future development of these tools for upcoming releases.

More news from the Frankfurt workshop…

• Digitization Progress and Strategic Coordination: Significant advancements in label digitization
  by member companies. The meeting highlighted the importance of synchronizing with national
  associations and regulatory bodies for effective milestone management. Plans to clarify the
  role of the DLC app and website are in motion, alongside considerations for expanding demo
  sessions to other European farmers.
• Pilot Phase Advancements and Long-Term Roadmap: Notable progress in preparation for the
  upcoming proof of concept and pilot phases, with an emphasis on finalizing app requirements
  to meet launch timelines. The meeting set a clear target for label digitization, aligning with the
  pilot phase’s needs. Discussion on the strategic roadmap included aligning immediate actions
  with long-term vision and ensuring the project remains future-ready and adaptable to evolving
  industry needs.
  
  
  So what is around the corner?
  
  
• Initiating Proof of Concept (Starting End of January): We are embarking on the Proof-ofConcept phase to evaluate the digital label platform and DLC website/mobile app, aiming to
  validate functionality and discern areas for improvement with key stakeholders’ collaboration.
  
• Pilot Rollout (Commencing April): The pilot phase, planned to begin in April, will be deployed
  in three successive waves. The initial wave tests select crop-product combinations, with
  subsequent waves progressively broadening the scope and scale, laying the groundwork for a
  comprehensive full-scale launch. As we progress from one wave to the next, the number of
  test users will also grow, covering a representative diversity of farmers.

It’s all about people: Teamwork divides the task and doubles the success!

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A great start to 2024

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Successful 2nd webinar for providers of farm management systems

On January 17th , the DLC team organized a webinar for providers of farm management systems (FMS).
About 40 participants attended the webinar.

The webinar was a follow-up to the webinar held in March 2023. The aim of the webinar was to keep
providers of farm management systems informed about the Digital Label Compliance project. Providers of FMS can and will play a key role in digital farming. Some FMS already include a database with crop
protection data. During the webinar it was underlined that DLC wants to collaborate with related sectors,
like the FMS providers. DLC is already working closely with organizations like COPA-COGECA and CEMA to ensure interoperability and alignment with the members of these organizations.

FMS providers were invited to join the digital crop protection journey, provide feedback on the DLC
outputs and discuss how it can be customized to fit their specific needs. Immediately after the webinar,
a first FMS provider contacted the organization to see whether and, if so, in what form collaboration is possible.

In autumn this year a new webinar for FMS providers will be organized. The slide deck and a recording of
the webinar are available upon request. Email to: ottenheim@brabers.nl

News from the technical teams:

• The Web and Mobile Application has been released for a first phase of testing through a Proof of Concept to a limited number of users within the DLC/AgriGuide project.

• The Application provides access to a limited number of labels and enables search by crops and pests as well as access to label data through scanning of the EAN 13 barcode or 2D Data Matrix using CRISTAL common industry practice.

• A first version of User Profile is available to enhance user experience through ability to create bookmark and save information about a particular product.

Here are a couple of screenshots to share the current status of our Mobile Application

• We will use our experience from the two-week PoC phase to inform our preparations for the Pilot, which
  we are preparing for now and plan to launch in April.

A great start to 2024

More news from the technical teams:

Label digitization has stepped up a gear, with companies moving beyond digitizing a few labels to working on tens of labels. This brings with it the challenge of managing the reference terms and quality checking, so we now have two working groups. One for reference data and one for QA/QC steps.

DLC heavily relies on controlled vocabulary dictionaries, or reference data. This ensures consistency
across the whole database, allows DLC multilanguage capability and interoperability (machine readability) with the various platforms that will, in future, interact with the DLC API.

Creating our reference data involves combining existing dictionaries into a single, coherent reference
workspace. For example: crop and pest dictionaries rely on EPPO codes, and crop stages are expressed in the BBCH scale. Those dictionaries are curated to avoid duplicates, unnecessary data or fill in missing
terms. Using this data we can provide automated error highlighting, consistency, and better
interoperability with other systems.

The QA/QC team has defined a set of quality check process steps which we are now using in a simplified
form for the PoC phase and will use more completely as we get ready for the Pilot. It includes a set of
validation rules which are being implemented in the DLC Platform to flag inconsistent, unexpected or
unusual data entries, as well as the obvious errors.

Finally, as part of the digitization process, we have brought a partner onboard who is helping companies
who want to outsource some or all of their label digitisation work. These companies still do their own
quality checks and take responsibility for their own label information.

Digital Label Compliance will soon be
known as AgriGuide!

Since we have been presenting the DLC project, we have been receiving the following feedback from our
stakeholders, both internally and externally:

1) The word Compliance may be perceived differently by our different stakeholders, and we want to
be consistent in our messaging
2) DLC is more than just a label – we have a vision that encompasses sustainable agriculture
3) Our long-term goal is to expand and include stakeholders not part of CLE today as active
contributing partners. To do so, we need to have a look and feel that is not 100% dependent on
CLE’s branding image.

So as of February, we will begin our transition to our new name, logo and brand identity:

What’s next?

• The theme for this year’s annual conference is Envisioning Tomorrow’s Agriculture: Building the Toolbox. The conference is hybrid with both Physical and Virtual participation possible.

• The DLC project will be highlighted in a panel discussion on Day 1 under our new name AgriGuide and we will be speaking about AgriGuide – Helping Farmers Comply with Increasingly Complex Legislation

• We hope to see many of you at the conference. Come by our AgriGuide demo display to say hello or learn more about the project and the preparations for the launch of the pilot project in Germany, Italy and Romania !

Who we are and what we do

Digital Label Compliance (DLC) is made up of more than 20 companies & organisations
working together to streamline regulatory compliance for Plant Protection Product (PPP)
users.

We are on a journey to digitise all PPP labels (biologicals & synthetics) in the EU following
one machine-readable standard. It is about bringing simplicity in an increasingly
complex environment, providing real-time digital label information which can be read by a
mobile application. DLC can be compared to the assistant driver that changed the
automotive industry. Taking the condition of use “tractor driving speed” as an example,
DLC will offer an alert to the user, indicating if he / she is within the speed limits allowed
while applying given PPP.

Our Vision: Food security, safely provided, in harmony with the environment

Aim: A paradigm shift to reducing risk in PPP application to a bare minimum creating a new
context for PPP application

The solution: Real-time guidance on conditions of use linked to PPP-application being met,
building on an EU-wide standardised database for digitised PPP labels

Stakeholders: Developed in coordination with the farming community and machinery
associations, and consultation of member states, European authorities as well as other
stakeholders

What is the value of Digital Label Compliance?

How is DLC structured

Our team counts ~55 members working in the regulatory, compliance, technology, packaging, and communication areas and represents the crop protection industry in our European and national associations. The team is organised into 12 workstreams, working in parallel and coordinating with a project manager.

The team is supported by consulting companies to develop the digital label platform and a mobile/web-based application to provide access to growers/farmers in the first phase of the initiative.

A core team ensures good coordination of the work and the relation to other CLE groups and external communication.

Close collaboration is ensured by the core teams and work streams with machine manufacturers and users through their European associations, as well as with the national associations in the pilot countries.

What we have achieved so far?

Pilot countries kick-off this initiative!

On 22nd June, we launched our Proof-of-Concept phase on the development of digital
labels database with a workshop in Brussels with our 3 pilot countries & 3 primary crops:

• Germany: Oilseed rape
• Italy: Wheat
• Romania : Sunflowers

News from the technical teams:

• The first digitised labels have been delivered, the second wave are starting to arrive, and
  the team have a collaborative approach to identifying and solving the challenges we find
• Key partners have been secured to support the pilot, including data platform build, user
  interface and app creation, and a digitisation service
• The DLC information model has been developed! We’re now on our third iteration
  following feedback. It is built from strong semantic foundations and is being used to
  capture the first round of digitised labels. These have been deconstructed down to their
  smallest useful level to include needs from all countries including local specificities.

What we have achieved so far

The DLC web and mobile applications will offer

1. Various levels of access to key information and features depending on registration or
   non-registration
2. Ability to Search
   a) By PPP name
   b) By Crop name
   c) By Pest & Disease
3. Ability to Scan PPP barcode (1D or 2D)

Access to General & Specific product detail in an efficient manner