A scholarship for people passionate about reducing agriculture waste

Apr 13, 2023

Students can enter the precision agriculture scholarship for a chance to win $2,000

Reducing on-farm waste, reducing on-farm costs (increasing on-farm profits), and reducing farming’s footprint on the environment – students who are passionate about any of these topics and who recognize the importance of agriculture are invited to enter the Farms.com Precision Agriculture Scholarship Contest.

This year, Farms.com is looking for scholarship entries by students who have a precision agriculture idea that will have a positive impact on the environment (most precision agriculture ideas do) and/or reduce costs for farmers.

Scholarship entries are welcomed from students studying in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom (places where Farms.com has a business footprint), but the entries must push precision agriculture forward with a brilliant idea. Students could win a scholarship in the amount of $2,000. Deadline for scholarships entries is June 30, 2023.

As in previous years, scholarship entries can be made by any student studying in any field, not just agriculture. This means students may be pursuing studies in fields such as robotics, AI, engineering, environmental science, etc.

When preparing scholarship entries, students need to remember that the ideas will need to be practical and appealing to farmers, because farmers will be voting on the concepts they believe are the most worthy and practical. A panel of judges determines the top entries in each country, but it is farmers who vote for the scholarship winners.

2023 Scholarship entrants are encouraged to focus on environmental and cost saving benefits to farmers. This year, with increases in input costs, those who practise precision agriculture techniques will undoubtedly understand the financial benefits of some of the scholarship entries.

Enrique Peña Martinez was the winner of the 2022 Precision Agriculture Scholarship. His entry was about incorporating a high throughput imaging and tracking system prior to dumping and sorting sweet potatoes. Martinez was a PhD student in electrical and computer engineering at North Carolina State University. No Canadian or UK winners were chosen in 2022.

Students are invited to submit their research/thesis or new idea regarding precision agriculture, via a social media video (Twitter and Facebook). The video should be less than 2-minutes in length and include the student or students first name(s). Entries should include the hashtag #PAG23scholarship.

Click here to learn more about the Precision Agriculture Scholarship eligibility criteria.

Click here to read the article about Enrique Peña Martinez 2022 winning scholarship entry.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.