The use of technology is imperative to produce food, feed, fiber, and energy sustainably to meet the current and future demands without compromising resources and the environment. The transition from conventional to sustainable agricultural practices is leading to noticeable shifts in workforce development programs in the agriculture industry to adopt cutting-edge technologies, such as drone technology, robotics, automation, and artificial intelligence (AI), in farms. This transition toward sustainable, digital agriculture requires informative education and high-impact practices to keep agricultural professionals’ knowledge, skills, and ability (KSA) relevant to future work. The primary objective of this project is to educate the participants with the essential KSA to facilitate the transition of the new wave of technology revolution to farms. We pursue our goal by organizing a series of two-day workshops focused on disruptive technologies, including drones, robotics, and automation. We allocate two workshop offerings to crop advisors and agricultural specialists and two offerings to high school teachers and community college instructors. Ag specialists and advisors will walk away with a deeper awareness of the need for drone technology, robotics, and automation and with fostered technical skills for using these modern technologies for sustainable farming. Teachers and instructors will gain the essential knowledge and skillsets to develop curricula and strategies for educating the next generation of agricultural professionals through innovative pedagogy and high-impact practices in the midst of rapidly changing technology. Participants are expected to incorporate the new knowledge obtained in this program in their extension education, consulting services, educational programs, and policy-making activities. The primary outcome indicators to demonstrate our success in achieving the defined intended outcomes are changes in participants’ KSA as a short-term change (e.g., learning new topics about innovative technologies) and in their behavior/action as a medium-term change (e.g., assisting growers in using these technologies to make informed decisions).
Course Code
510012