Mishicot High School is working with Microsoft to help students learn more about technology in the ag industry.
As a part of the FarmBeats for Students program, the school received a hardware kit with free curated curriculum and activities designed to give students hands-on experience in precision agriculture.
Michelle Schuler, who manages the program, tells SeehaferNews.com that the program is free, and was developed in partnership with the FFA.
She noted, “We actually had a whole team of teachers come to Microsoft Campus back in 2018/19 and develop the curriculum alongside side folks at Microsoft.”
The main focus of the program is to learn more the concept of precision agriculture.
“Namely thinking about how we use sensors across small scale and large scale farms, how we can collect lots of different types of data from those sensors,” Schuler explained. “When we start accumulating that data, it really can help us gain insights into what’s happening in the environment in a little more precise way.”
Cheri Bortleson ran the in-person training with the teacher from Mishicot High and other Wisconsin educators last summer.
She emphasized the importance of training the next generation of farmers and utilizing their unique skills to innovate.
Bortleson said they ask themselves, “How do we help them think about ways of leveraging technology, not to do it the way the grandfathers or their fathers did it? But even what’s next for them and how do they leverage it on the firm? But then also maybe how do they be innovative and create something that other farmers could possibly use?”
You can learn more about FarmBeats for Students by visiting Microsoft.com.
