Advancing Precision Agriculture in the Urban Environment

通过精准农业技术的开发和应用，农业产业取得了快速发展。以园艺为基础的工作现在正在利用这些进步，如无人机、水感技术和自动除草系统。因此，在城市农业这一新兴领域，将精准农业与园艺相结合是一个不断扩大的领域，需要熟练的劳动力。这在内布拉斯加州尤其如此，那里每四个工作中就有一个与农业有关，许多工作都在城市和/或园艺环境中找到。该项目将精准农业和园艺领域结合在一起，在一所两年制大学创建了一个技术教育项目，为城市农业职业提供了一条途径。在为期3年的时间里，目前的方案将扩大到提供与城市农业技术有关的微型证书课程，为高中农业教育工作者举办暑期讲习班，并为在职工人举办继续教育讲习班。这些新资源将改善现有的高质量培训，以丰富学生对园艺技术的兴趣和技能，并增强现有工人的职业道路。以下目标将指导该项目：1)与当地高中合作，向学生介绍职业选择，并利用园艺概念和精密技术提供积极的学习机会；2)为农业教育工作者设计和实施一系列六个工作坊，以提高他们教授园艺、精密技术和城市农业相关课程的能力；以及3)为在职工人提供五个系列的继续教育工作坊。该计划将加强与地区高中的伙伴关系，并在园艺和城市农业行业内建立新的关系。在中学，教师将被邀请成为真正的同事，通过共同创建激发、鼓励和准备学生考虑在城市农业工作的教育途径。将开发一个由三门课程组成的模块化课程，可用于补充当地高中的农业教育课程，在某些情况下，将导致高中生获得双学分。总体而言，新课程将影响五所试点高中的学生和教师，以及来自全州各地的在职工作人员。该项目的结果和课程将提供给其他社区学院、农业教育工作者社区和更广泛的技术员教育社区。该项目由高级技术教育计划资助，该计划专注于为推动国家经济的先进技术领域培养技术人员。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The agriculture industry has seen rapid advances through the development and application of precision agriculture techniques. Horticulture-based jobs are now utilizing these advances such as drones, water-sensing technology, and automated weeding systems. Combining precision agriculture with horticulture in the emerging field of urban agriculture is therefore an expanding filed that needs a skilled workforce. This is particularly true in Nebraska, where one in four jobs is connected to agriculture and many are found in an urban and/or horticulture setting. This project unites the fields of precision agriculture and horticulture to create a technical education program at a two-year college that provides a pathway to urban agriculture careers. Over its 3-year duration, current programming will be expanded to provide micro-credentialed courses related to urban agriculture technology, summer workshops for high school agriculture educators, and continuing education workshops for incumbent workers. These new resources will improve existing high-quality training to enrich student interest and skills in horticulture technology and enhance career pathways for incumbent workers. The following objectives will guide the project: 1) partner with local high schools to introduce students to career options and to provide active learning opportunities using horticulture concepts and precision technologies, 2) design and implement a series of six workshops for agriculture educators to enhance their ability to teach relevant courses in horticulture, precision technology, and urban agriculture, and 3) provide a series of five continuing education workshops for incumbent workers. This program will strengthen partnerships with area high schools and build new relationships within the horticulture and urban agriculture industries. In secondary schools, teachers will be invited to be true colleagues, by co-creating educational pathways that excite, encourage, and prepare students to consider careers in urban agriculture. A three-course modularized curriculum will be developed that can be used to supplement agriculture education courses in local high schools, and in some cases, will result in dual credit for high school students. Overall, the new curriculum will impact students and teachers at five pilot high schools and incumbent workers from around the state. Results of the project and the curriculum will be made available to other community colleges, the community of educators in agriculture education and the broader technician education community. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the Nation’s economy.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.