The board of trustees at Appleton's Fox Valley Technical College has approved a new Precision Agriculture program which aims to train the next generation of agribusiness and agronomy professionals to be ready for the workforce. Teachers at the school's agriculture center say it will be a one of a kind program in the state.

Precision agriculture takes data collected from industry equipment and generates prescribed maps for fields through the use of GPS technology and related software. This innovative method of farming results in better tilling, planting, and harvesting due to variable rate applications. Each soil and topographic makeup on any given parcel of land is unique, and precision agriculture pinpoints these distinctions to optimize the growing experience for stakeholders of production agriculture.

"Precision agriculture is the 21st Century management tool for production Ag," says Mike Cattelino, associate dean of FVTC's Manufacturing and Agriculture Technologies division. "This technology enables agriculture professionals to become better micro-managers of their own soil."

Service Motor Company, a nearby Case IH dealership, is helping to supply the school with the necessary equipment to teach the program.