MITCHELL, SD (Mitchell Now) — Mitchell Technical College is helping students, growers and agricultural professionals turn field data into farm management decisions through a new On-Farm Precision Experimentation certificate.
The seven-module course covers designing field trials, evaluating results and applying findings to individual farms. Topics include variable-rate equipment, trial design, harvest data quality and return on investment.
What Does the Precision Agriculture Certificate Teach?
Participants learn how to test agricultural practices under their own field conditions and determine whether changes make economic sense. Those skills can help growers and advisers evaluate investments in inputs, equipment and management practices.
Devon Russell, Mitchell Tech precision agriculture instructor and OFPE project director, and Aaron Sundquist, a Mitchell Tech alumnus and field trials supervisor for OFPE/DIFM, helped spearhead the course.
“For our Precision Ag students at Mitchell Tech, this course connects the technology they’re learning to use with the decisions they’ll help growers make,” Russell said.
Who Is the Course Designed For?
The certificate is designed for students, growers and agricultural professionals. For students, it connects classroom instruction with questions producers face each growing season, helping prepare them for careers in agricultural technology, crop production and grower support.
Instructors Andrew Leggett of Blue Mountain Community College, Jim Uphaus of Rhodes State College and Charlie Mitsdarfer of Parkland College also contributed.
The project is supported by U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture award 2023-67038-40104.