BOTTINEAU, N.D. — Dakota College at Bottineau’s Agriculture Department is one of the 7 recipients of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) grant to support the Secondary Agriculture Education Challenge Grants Program. NIFA’s main objective in this grant is to “promote and strengthen food and agricultural science education” (United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) & National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), 2022).
Drones have become a powerful tool in the agriculture and food production industry and this technology has great potential to make agricultural operations more efficient and productive, especially in states like North Dakota where farms are large and the workforce is small. Unfortunately there is a lack of accredited Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) training programs.
Luckily, Dakota College at Bottineau has already implemented an UAS program. DCB has teamed up with three local area high schools to implement this project. There are four main outcomes of this project: (1) produce hybrid online and in-person curricula in ag-related UAS technology, (2) equip the high schools and community college with UAS hardware and software to provide students hands-on experience, (3) increase the quality of online technology instruction by creating a hybrid of online and in-person labs, and (4) produce the three high school instructors with the qualifications to teach UAS labs.
Once this program has started, it can be shared and replicated in other high schools and colleges which would expand the technical education opportunities to North Dakota students across the state. Once students complete the UAS program, they will be equipped to take the commercial drone license exam and be prepared to apply their knowledge of UAS to North Dakota’s fields.
–Dakota College at Bottineau