Plans are being made for a statewide precision agriculture center at Ivy Tech’s Terre Haute campus.
Ivy Tech already offers agriculture technician courses, training students to become IT specialists for a new age of GPS enabled farm equipment. This equipment lets farmers target the best spot in their fields to plant, spread extra fertilizer or use more herbicide.
“There is a lot of expensive equipment we need to purchase as part of this. We want to make sure that our students are utilizing and learning based on the equipment that they would actually service while they are out in the workforce," Ivy Tech Terre Haute Chancellor Jonathan Weinzapfel says.
Weinzapfel says the school hopes to open the center in two years.
Ivy Tech is seeking $2.5 million from the state's new Regional Cities Initiative to pay the startup costs.
The school says a precision agriculture center on its Terre Haute campus would draw students from around the state and from Illinois.
“We would only expect its influence and impact to grow. As new equipment comes online you know there’s going to be greater and greater use and need for technicians who understand the technology,” Weinzapfel says.
