Building the Next Generation of Agricultural Careers and Leaders
Who is ABAC?
Precision ag is instrumental for the future of the world — which makes it imperative that we are teaching about it. Ag Leader Technology has built a partnership with the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC) to help build the next generation of agricultural careers and leaders.
ABAC is an undergraduate teaching college in Georgia with a strong emphasis on agriculture. ABAC professors and ag engineers, Dr. Alex McLemore and Dr. Erin Porter, teach classes related to ag technology management and were integral in implementing and continuing this partnership.
“When we started our Ag Technology Management Program, we were very focused on integrating the students in with the full Precision AG DATA (demonstrating applied technology in agriculture) farm that we have on campus,” said Dr. McLemore.
The AG DATA farm features Ag Leader products that students are able to utilize in the classroom and the field. In the classroom, Kyle Snodgrass, an Ag Leader territory manager, has built a good working relationship with Dr. Porter and Dr. McLemore and through that, has been able to guest lecture at ABAC, interact with the students, and teach them about Ag Leader and our products. Informed Ag, a local Ag Leader dealer, has also been instrumental in working with ABAC to bring precision ag to the classroom.
Ag Leader InCommand Display set up in ABAC Classroom
The need for students with experience and skills in the ag field
“ABAC and Ag Leader together realized that there is a hole in the education of agriculture students coming into the industry, missing skills and hands-on equipment and technology experience,” said Snodgrass.
The ABAC program requires their students to have completed one internship prior to graduation. This partnership is giving students the skills they need to be hirable post-grad along with the required internship experience.
With students learning about Ag Leader and how to use our products, this gives Ag Leader an opportunity to find individuals who are passionate about precision ag technology and recruit them into our dealerships as well as give students experiential learning they can’t get anywhere else.
“Since we partnered with Ag Leader and gotten the Ag Leader equipment on campus, we’ve been able to utilize it and weave it into our curriculum, and it’s really starting to connect the dots for us and help our students see this flow of data through that entire Precision Ag cycle, from class to class,” said Dr. Porter.
Why Ag Leader?
At the AG DATA farm, ABAC professors were tasked with finding the best technology to showcase precision ag technologies on the farm.
“We ended up going with Ag Leader because of the flexibility of Ag Leader products, and the fact that Ag Leader is a technology company. We also liked that Ag Leader is focused on education and has educational resources available,” said Dr. Porter.
The creation of this partnership allowed ABAC to outfit a lab with Ag Leader equipment to use as part of their curriculum including products like InCommand 1200s, planter row unit (SureForce and SureSpeed), and SMS.
ABAC students are getting true hands-on experience in a controlled setting utilizing the curriculum in the lab, as well as the working farm. Using Ag Leader products in real world scenarios helps students understand the value of precision ag and how it’s changing the way agriculture is done today and will move forward into the future.
The goal of this partnership was to create a safe space for students to learn about agriculture and the digital workplace in an environment that is easy to fail in, in order to get students familiar with the tools and language to make graduates successful in the ag industry.
The future of Ag Leader and ag leaders
“Ag Leader is going to have a role in progressing the industry. Especially on the data side, the ability to collect all that data, and then getting it into a program like AgFiniti or SMS to start making decisions is critical moving forward, because we’re going to be able to discover things and answer questions, we didn’t even know we could answer,” said Dr. McLemore.
We are excited for the future of this partnership, the students and the agricultural technology industry. This partnership began in 2018 and since then, over 1000 students have used Ag Leader products in their coursework.
Ag Leader offers an educational solution for schools of all sizes. The program provides resources for all your precision agriculture needs from beginning course content, precision equipment training, general precision resources and even the software programs themselves. This all-in-one package is the easiest way to start a new precision ag program or enhance an existing program. We are aware of the need for a knowledgeable precision workforce and we strive to help you make that happen.
Contact education@agleader.com for program details.
