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Using precision agriculture with Microsoft and FFA’s FarmBeats for Students

Precision agriculture is becoming more important for farmers and ranchers, but is also creating career opportunities for ag students.

The National FFA Organization and Microsoft are featuring FarmBeats for Students, a program that helps ag teachers integrate precision ag technology into their classrooms.

Microsoft program manager Ankur Anand says the ag industry is continuting to evolve.

“It’s about using new technology, including data science, AI, and hands-on learning to bring these concepts in the classroom,” he says. “The goal is to help students understand these basic technology fundamentals that they can use in precision agriculture.”

He tells Brownfield the project started in 2019.

“It started with an idea,” he says. “We actually came here my first year and asking questions to educators and students on how technology help you in the classroom or your greenhouse to keep you up to date with latest fundamentals of technology and precision agriculture. Based on that, we developed a prototype that’s taken us a couple of years with COVID hit in the middle to really refine and dial in on this project.”

Makayla Staudinger says the De Pere FFA Chapter in Wisconsin is utilizing the technology.

“This project is so important because we are losing farmland, but our population is growing super fast,” she says. “In the coming years, it’s going to be so important to utilize the technology and maximize our land to grow as much product and food as we can. This is a great basic introductory course for students to learn how to do that post college.”

The FarmBeats for Students program includes curriculum, hands-on activities, and a hardware kit to support data-driven growing decisions in the classroom.

AUDIO: Ankur Anand, Microsoft