Agriculture students at Northeast Community College learn early that precision agriculture (PA) is the future of farming. On Monday, November 23, 2015, Jim Erwin, of Laurel, NE, showed students just how precise farming is, thanks to new technology. Erwin is a Technical Agronomist who works for Channel, a division of Monsanto.

Erwin explained, to Chris Burbach’s Intro to Agriculture Technology classes, that precision AG is taking yield data and information from the combine to satellite. Satellites have the capability to guide farm equipment through fields. He said, “Instead of getting just one yield across the field, you’re getting thousands and thousands of points. And that is what PA is.” Erwin showed students how to specifically track crop yields per row, rather than the entire field. All of that information is shared from the combine via satellite to SST, which stands for Site Specific Technologies. That is a software database in Stillwater, Oklahoma that helps to analyze soil, planting patterns, and moisture. Erwin says students need to understand PA because if they go back to the farm, gathering crop and field data and technology will always be a part of everyday life.