“The students experienced the incredible advances in precision agriculture and play with the tools and gadgets in precision ag management such as satellite imagery, auto-steer, sensors, drones and other technology,” said Tara Smydra, associate dean of agriculture, math and science.
The two-day Ag-Citing Precision Ag Camp allowed the students to work with precision equipment that is used from planting to harvest. Smydra said the students also toured facilities, including the college farm, greenhouse and Northeast’s Precision Agriculture Learning (PAL) simulator, which is outfitted with multiple hands-on mobile training modules to train current and future producers. They also participated in field trips to area farms.
“The whole idea of the camp was to allow the students to work with our fantastic agriculture instructors and workforce partners as they learned about amazing careers in precision agriculture,” Smydra said.
The activity was partially funded with federal Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 funds administered through the Nebraska Department of Education, grant number V048A180027.
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PHOTO CUTLINE
Chance Lambrecht, precision agriculture instructor at Northeast Community College, demonstrates a seed meter test stand in the college’s Precision Agriculture Learning (PAL) simulator to high school students during an AG-citing Precision Ag Camp recently. The test allows for the proper calibration of meters to specific speed, population, and seed size.