The first group of students will take the course in September 2023
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
The University of Saskatchewan (USask) has introduced a new certificate program for students.
Beginning in the fall 2023 semester, students can apply to earn a Precision Agriculture certificate.
This program provides learners with an understanding of the basics of precision ag, experience using precision ag tools and techniques and more skills to pursue a career working in the sector.
Students will learn how to manage crops and understand what affects yield variability from year to year.
The program will fall under the banner of the College of Agriculture and Bioresources and will bring together students in engineering and computer science programs too.
“Many of the world’s leading precision agriculture companies are based in Western Canada and look to USask to hire our graduates,” said Dr. Steve Shirtliffe, a professor Department of Plant Sciences at USask,” said in a statement. ““By leveraging competencies from their unique academic discipline, students in the certificate program will be prepared for a variety of careers with a special focus on precision agriculture including agronomists, sales and marketing specialists, programmers and data analysts, and engineering machinery and control design.”
The first cohort of students will start the program in September 2023. The deadline to apply is Aug. 15, 2023.
Students interested in starting the precision ag program in January 2024 have until Dec. 1, 2023, to submit an application and Dec. 15, 2023, to submit any necessary documents.
USask isn’t the only post-secondary school to offer precision ag education.
Olds College, for example, offers a precision agriculture diploma. And Lethbridge College has an introduction to precision ag course.