Frequently Asked Questions

WHAT ARE ASABE STANDARDS?

ASABE Standards are consensus documents developed and adopted by the American Society of Agricultural & Biological Engineers to meet standardization needs within the scope of the Society; principally agricultural field equipment, farmstead equipment, structures, soil and water resource management, turf and landscape equipment, forest engineering, food and process engineering, electric power applications, plant and animal environment, and waste management.

HOW ARE ASABE STANDARDS DEVELOPED?

Documents are developed by ASABE task groups and committees in accordance with due process, consensus procedures adopted by ASABE. ASABE's procedures are accredited by the American National Standards Institute, ANSI. Task groups and committees are open to participation by qualified individuals from interested producer, consumer, and general interest groups. Contact ASABE for information about technical committees involved with the development of Standards.

HOW ARE DOCUMENTS CLASSIFIED?

ASABE documents are classified as Standards, Engineering Practices, or Data. Classifications are defined in the Standardization Procedures.

HOW ARE DOCUMENTS ORGANIZED WITHIN THE STANDARDS BOOK?

Documents are organized in numerical sequence within broad subject matter classifications as shown in the Table of Contents. The current sections are:

• General Engineering for Agriculture;
• Agricultural Equipment;
• Turf and Landscape Equipment;
• Electrical and Electronic Systems;
• Food and Process Engineering;
• Structures, Livestock, and Environment; and
• Soil and Water Resource Management.

Each section is preceded by its own table of contents listing all of the documents in numerical order that are included in that section. Complete keyword and numerical indexes are located toward the end of the book.

HOW SHOULD STANDARDS IMPROVEMENTS OR NEEDS BE REPORTED?

Your feedback is welcome and important. Forms or correspondence should be sent to the Director of Standards, ASABE, 2950 Niles Road, St. Joseph, MI 49085-9659 USA. Standards staff contacts are shown on the contacts page.

WHAT DO THE ALPHA-NUMERIC DESIGNATIONS MEAN?

The capital letters S, EP, D, and X designate the document classifications of Standard, Engineering Practice, Data, and Project, respectively. The capital letter, T, after the numeric designation indicates Tentative classification. The base 3-digit number has no significance other than to identify the standard. The base number was assigned when development of the standard began as an ASABE project. The digit following the decimal identifies a specific technical revision of the original document. The date after the document number indicates the most recent action on the document (adoption, revision, or reaffirmation).

Example:S318.11 MAR95
S standard
318 base number
.11 eleventh technical revision
MAR95 adoption, last revision or reaffirmation

HOW CAN THE HISTORY OF A DOCUMENT BE TRACKED?

The brief paragraph at the beginning of each document provides a chronological history of the document's development, adoption, revision and reaffirmation. All ASABE documents are reviewed every five years unless technically revised in the interim. Tentative standards are reviewed annually.

ARE THERE RELATED ISO STANDARDS?

International Standards are developed through ISO Technical Committees such as ISO/TC 23, Tractors and Machinery for Agriculture and Forestry. Many ISO standards in this area are based on ASABE standards, and ASABE has adopted some ISO standards. For more information on these standards, please contact the ASABE Manager of International Standards.

WHAT STANDARDS ARE BEING DEVELOPED BY ASABE?

A listing of current ASABE standardization projects is available on the web site. Persons interested in providing input to any of these projects should contact the ASABE Standards Department.

IS RELATED TECHNICAL INFORMATION AVAILABLE FROM ASABE?

Hundreds of technical papers are presented annually at ASABE meetings. Peer reviewed manuscripts are published in Transactions of the ASABE, the Journal of Agricultural Safety and Health, and Applied Engineering in Agriculture. This information is keyword indexed by the Society. Papers may be available relating directly or indirectly to the scope of specific standards, engineering practices, and data. See ASABE Publications, or go directly to our Technical Library for more information.