Farm Progress

The facility will be a hub for precision agriculture research, teaching and innovation.

November 20, 2017

1 Min Read
BIG DONATION: At the check presentation are Bill Gibbons, interim director of the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station; Bob Schmidt, FCSAmerica; Barry Dunn, SDSU president; and Don Marshall, dean of the ag college.

Farm Credit Services of America has donated $500,000 to support the construction of a precision agriculture facility on the South Dakota State University campus.

The facility will be a hub for research, teaching and innovation that covers the entire spectrum of precision agriculture and will enable collaboration with differing disciplines within that space.

“SDSU is extremely grateful to Farm Credit Services of America for their support of the precision ag project at this substantial level,” says Don Marshall, interim dean of the College of Agriculture and Biological Sciences. “Their generosity and our shared vision of the future of agriculture will help position SDSU students and researchers to address the grand challenges of global food security with technology and efficient production methods that sustain our natural resources for future generations.”

SDSU offers the first four-year precision agriculture degree in the U.S. The degree is a collaborative effort encompassing the Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Department, the Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Science Department, and the College of Engineering.

“We, like our customers, are interested in efficient practices that maximize production and profits,” says Bob Schmidt, senior vice president for FCSAmerica in South Dakota. “We are proud to support South Dakota State University as it helps lead innovation in agriculture. Graduates from this program will be ready to meet the technology and expertise needs of employers in agronomy, equipment and more. Producers will have additional support in applying precision ag to their operations because of the work that will be done in this facility.”

Source: SDSU

Subscribe to receive top agriculture news
Be informed daily with these free e-newsletters

You May Also Like