2021年9月一个阳光明媚的周六, a large group of people gathered outside an impressive new 122,694-square-foot building of brick and glass on the Brookings, S.D.南达科他州立大学(SDSU). They were there to celebrate the grand opening of the new 瑞文精准农业中心. 这一事件之所以意义重大，有几个原因.
46美元.1 million facility represented a major investment made by the state and agricultural companies in the next generation of agricultural education, 主要专注于精密技术.
新设施是一种新型农业专业的所在地, the country’s first four-year degree in precision agriculture and features state-of-the-art classrooms, 工业合作的实验室和空间.
满足农业教育的需要
这段旅程始于SDSU开始扩大其 农业系统技术专业 in 2009, recalls Nic Uilk, precision ag instructor. “We saw the need everywhere for more focused coursework on precision ag philosophy and tools. 设备经销商, cooperative managers and ag bankers all said they wanted ag graduates with a better understanding of the field. 也有学生提出要求.”
He attributes the university’s rapid progress in developing the program to Barry Dunn, 当时的院长 农业与生物科学学院 现在是圣地亚哥州立大学校长. “He recognized the industry need and was a major driving force in fundraising and in supporting curricular development,乌尔克说.
By 2015, the college had introduced a minor in precision agriculture and, in 2016, SDSU became the first land grant university in the U.S. 为学生提供精密农业学位. 到2021年5月，该项目有36名毕业生. Today, 82 students are enrolled in the major and 57 have declared precision ag as a minor.
It wasn’t just Upper Midwest students attracted to the new program, notes Uilk. “第一年就提供了, 买球比较靠谱的网站吸引了威斯康辛州的学生, 伊利诺斯州, 俄亥俄州, 德克萨斯州和华盛顿州.”
农业就业机会
SDSU senior Parker Aase is one of those precision ag majors who has long known he wanted an active, ag-based职业. “I definitely don’t want to spend the bulk of my workdays sitting in an office.”
明尼苏达州的奥瓦托纳., 本地人不是在农场长大的, 但它起源于农村社区, showed livestock in 4-H and took ag classes in high school.
“我想主修买球比较靠谱的网站, but after I had taken a few precision ag classes here at SDSU, I felt it was a great way to apply all the agronomy basics I was learning, 所以决定修双学位.
“I really like the data-mapping classes because they’ve helped me understand how to make all that information useful to farmers,他说. “I have already been able to help farming friends of mine create field input maps that help them control costs.”
The program’s hands-on approach extends beyond the classroom, with faculty members helping students find summer internships. “Our faculty maintain close connections with local agribusiness people, both personally and through our industry advisory board,乌尔克说. “We hold annual career fairs and other events that allow our students to meet people working in the industries they’re interested in. 这些联系真的很有价值. 这就是很多人找到暑期实习的原因.”
大一的时候, Aase在一次大学活动中遇到了Raven的一位主管, which led to his first summer internship with the company working in customer service and training. 第二年夏天, he interned with a seed company and last summer he was back at Raven, learning more about technical development of the company’s autonomous grain carts and the Omnipower self-propelled power platform.
“I’ve really enjoyed all of my internships and learned so much,阿斯说。, adding he’d be happy doing any of those jobs full-time after graduation.
投资精准农业教育
Creating and refining high school and college programs takes resources. 推荐几个靠谱的买球网站基金会已经承诺了超过2美元.3 million since 2018 to support new and expanding precision agriculture programs at colleges and universities around the country. 一些包括:
$1.5 million to support the South Dakota State University precision agriculture program and construction of the new 瑞文精准农业中心 on the university’s Brookings campus
- $272,676 to the University of Idaho to develop a precision ag certificate program
- $196,697 to the University of 伊利诺斯州 to implement a new computer science and crop science major
- 12万美元给西德克萨斯大学&M University to create curriculum in seven urban high schools that targets more diverse students from nonag backgrounds
- $80,000 to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for a diversity student mentor program
- $70,000 to Bismarck State College for a precision agriculture active learning classroom
“The 推荐几个靠谱的买球网站基金会 is committed to supporting projects that cultivate opportunities for students interested in agriculture and help to produce qualified graduates to fill the needs of the industry,Nanci Lilja说, 总统, 推荐几个靠谱的买球网站基金会. “The ag industry needs to be innovative in how it attracts talent. These institutions are delivering on those innovations and using unique approaches to reach the next generation of ag leaders.”
是什么让精准农业教育与众不同
Along with loving technology and hands-on learning, SDSU junior Rosalyn Madsen wants a job where she can work with people. “我想成为一名技术专家, installing precision ag technology and helping customers solve problems. 也许有一天我甚至会经营自己的生意.”
正在上她的第一堂精密农业入门课程, which allows students to work on a fleet of Kubota tractors fitted with autosteer systems, 巩固了马德森对专业的决定. “The work combines my love of agronomy with the chance to work with my hands. This technology is definitely where everything is headed, which makes it exciting.”
马德森一家住在明尼苏达州富兰克林郊外.，但不务农. Most of her ag experience has come by taking high school classes, participating in FFA and helping on a neighbor’s farm. Last summer, she interned at Central Region Cooperative, based in Fairfax, Minn., loading out crop protection products, consulting on applications and scouting crops. “I got customer interaction experience and great practice identifying weeds and pests.”
Summer internships are important for providing practical experience because the SDSU precision ag major requires 120 credits, 选修课的空间很小. “We need to provide a solid foundation in agronomy, along with electrical and equipment courses. 四年时间里有很多事情要做，”乌尔克说.
Most upper-level courses have labs, as well, which meet at least two hours per week. “While most of the classes went online during the 2020–2021 school year because of the pandemic, 实验室可以亲自继续研究, 按照推荐的注意事项操作,他说. “This year, we’re back to mostly in-person classes.”
SDSU currently has an articulation agreement with Mitchell Technical Institute in Mitchell, S.D., that allows students from that two-year school’s precision ag technology program to transfer credits into the SDSU four-year program. “We’re talking with a few other two-year institutions to set up a similar agreement,乌尔克说. “肯定有很多需求.”
He says about half of the program’s graduates have gotten jobs in agronomy and half are working with ag equipment.
“A few have gone home to farm, but most have their pick of jobs when they graduate.”
把精准农业教育变成事业
这就是南卡罗来纳州加勒森市的特纳·鲍曼(Tonner Bowman)的情况.D., who has been working in agronomy sales for the 推荐几个靠谱的买球网站 location based in Brandon, S.D., since he graduated from SDSU with a precision ag degree in May 2019. “I had multiple job offers, but decided to return to my home community,他说.
Bowman interned at the cooperative the summer before he 左 for college and at another one of its locations for two summers while at SDSU.
“我最初的专业是买球比较靠谱的网站, but felt like everything we talked about in other classes came together when I took precision ag-mapping classes. Learning how to work with the data and make recommendations and having the chance to go more in-depth on the equipment side of it was important.”
Bowman says he uses most of those skills every day in his work with growers in eastern South Dakota and western Minnesota. “我主要关注土壤肥力, 使用网格土壤采样, interpreting those results to write fertilizer recommendations and develop variable-rate application maps, 加上解释收获结果.
“买球比较靠谱的网站现在有 Agellum® 农场管理和规划工具 to help us harness the power of all that data and help growers make management decisions that help maximize returns,他说. “It takes so much of the guesswork out of crop management.”
Bowman recently took a sales agronomist position with the cooperative and finding a precision ag specialist to replace him hasn’t been easy, 鲍勃·古德说, 农艺师和种子经理 推荐几个靠谱的买球网站在布兰登. Goodroad also coordinates internships for the business. “Right now, there simply aren’t enough qualified candidates to go around.”
Staffing needs are one reason why the 推荐几个靠谱的买球网站 staff at Brandon has supported the new SDSU program and why the team stays in regular contact with Uilk and other precision ag faculty.
至少一年一次, they get together to discuss what they see happening in the industry and topics that should be covered in the classroom. And the co-op is providing hands-on training by hosting 12 to 20 interns each summer. It even works to customize internships to fit individual students’ careers goals and experience gaps, 说Goodroad. 每年, two or three former interns are hired by the co-op for permanent positions after they graduate.
“We’re training students, but we’re also trying to build our bench. It’s a chance for us to sell the students on the benefits of working for us and show them the potential for growth and career advancement in the cooperative system.”
作为一名SDSU校友, Uilk says one of the best things about the school’s newest program is that it creates opportunities for rural students to develop the skills needed to go back and work in their home communities. “There is no shortage of opportunities in agriculture. Students just need to get the right skills and experience.”
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