- Posted 03/16/2001
Contact: Andrew Svec, 218-281-8435
MAST Students to Learn About Precision Ag at UMC March 17-19
Seventeen college-age students from seven countries will spend March 17-19 at the University of Minnesota, Crookston (UMC) taking part in an intensive precision agriculture seminar. The students are enrolled in the Minnesota Agricultural Student Trainee (MAST) program at the U of M’s Twin Cities campus and are making the trek to Crookston to see precision ag concepts practiced in a real-world setting.
“UMC and the MAST program have a good collaborative relationship,” says Aziz Rahman, an assistant professor at UMC who teaches courses in precision agriculture and who is the coordinator of this weekend’s seminar. “Professor Pierre Roberts from the U of M’s Precision Agriculture Center has brought several groups of students here, and each time these international students rate their UMC experience extremely high. They enjoy seeing the precision ag theories practiced on an actual farm,” adds Rahman.
Topics covered in the seminar March 17 and 18 will include: using global positioning systems (GPS) and geographic information systems (GIS), Collecting coordinate points for map geo-referencing, measuring topographic variability using topographic data, variable rate fertilizer application, remote sensing, and yield map interpretation. The seminar will also involve Paul Aakre, assistant professor and program manager for UMC’s degree program in Agricultural Systems Management. On the morning of Monday, March 19, the students will visit a model precision ag farm operated by local farmer Gary Wagner and his brothers.
Students attending the UMC program are from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Poland, South Africa, and Uruguay.
MAST (Minnesota Agricultural Student Trainee) International is an agricultural/horticultural exchange program arranging 4-8 month practical training and a term of academic experience for 250 students from 30-40 different countries around the world each year.