Precision Agriculture Scholarships Winners Announced

Oct 27, 2020
By Denise Faguy
Assistant Editor, North American Content, Farms.com

Farmers and industry members voted for scholarship winners in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada

Voting for the Farms.com Precision Agriculture Scholarship has concluded and Farms.com is delighted to announce the winners of the scholarship in each of three countries.

The scholarship winner from the United States of America is Austin Brown, who is studying at Penn State University in Animal Science, with his submission “Phenomics & Animal Trait Measurement Utilizing Bio-imaging”.
The scholarship winner from the United Kingdom is Will Smith who is studying at the University of Lincoln, with his submission “Can inter-row cultivation play a role in the future of sustainable weed control?”.
The scholarship winner from Canada is Nicholas Bannon, studying at the University of Guelph for his BA Food, Agriculture and Resource Economics, with his proposal for a “Nationwide Precision Agriculture Education Program for Farmers & Input Suppliers”.

The scholarship winner in each country will receive a scholarship valued at US $2000. The theme for the 2020 scholarships was “environmental benefits of precision agriculture to protecting the planet”. Scholarship entries were received at the end of September from students who submitted their research/thesis, via a social media video (YouTube, Twitter, Facebook).

The scholarship submissions were judged by a panel of industry leaders, sponsors and Farms.com staff members to choose the top three submissions in each country. The finalists were announced and then farmers and industry leaders were invited to vote for the student with the precision agriculture idea that they believed would have a positive impact on the environment and could be adopted by farmers.

“The number of votes we received for the scholarship far surpassed our expectations,” says Farms.com President and CEO Graham Dyer. “We were impressed by the quality of the scholarship submissions we received, and each of the finalists was deserving of a scholarship. The farming community was engaged by the ideas presented and have now chosen the winners in each country.”

“Congratulations to Nicholas Bannon,” says Darcy Herauf, Director FCC AgExpert, and sponsor for the Canadian Scholarship. “The passion from each of the Canadian submissions as well as scholarship submissions from other countries demonstrates the bright minds that will be the future of the industry. FCC AgExpert recognizes the importance of ensuring young people are engaged in the agriculture industry and we were delighted to support this initiative.”

The three scholarship winners will present more detailed information about their scholarship submission during the upcoming Farms.com Virtual Precision Agriculture Conference and Ag Technology Showcase. Their panel discussion will be held on Wednesday the 18th of November at 12:30 pm eastern time.

Registration to access all three days of the virtual conference is only $35/person. Attendees can attend the conference live or at their convenience for up to 10 days after the event is over. For more information, or to register, visit https://www.farms.com/precision-agriculture/conferences/virtual-precision-ag-conference-2020/.

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.