News

Henry Ford Museum of American Innovations looks to the future of ag

A curator at the Henry Ford Museum says drone technology and ‘AI’ are now being preserved as great agricultural innovations.

Debra Reid oversees agriculture and environment collections.

She tells Brownfield agriculture was key to Henry Ford’s core collections and it’s her job to carry that forward for the next century.

“It’s imperative that that 90 percent of folks in cities and suburbs have an understanding of the ways that farmers manage the land mass of the United States,” she says.

Support from the Michigan Soybean Committee helped the museum recently acquire a spray drone from Northwestern Michigan College. The college was one of the first to offer commercial ag drone training and licensing and was selected by the Federal Aviation Administration to offer collegiate training in the state.

“Drones are rapidly changing the ways agriculture happens, it’s facilitating precision agriculture,” she says. “AI in agriculture is what is the goal this year, and I think of that as ‘AI’ Agricultural Intelligence.”

Reid says the museum plans to bring in drone operators and farmers to enhance agricultural education experiences and connections for visitors.