Machinery Management Using

Precision Agriculture Technology

An Online Non-Credit Course

 

 

Course Description: This course focuses on agricultural equipment that is commonly used in conjunction with GPS technology.  Planters, combines, fertilizer application equipment and sprayer application equipment are commonly equipped with GPS equipment to control and record operational parameters. These parameters focus around the equipments geographic location and can be recorded simultaneously with the volume of product applied and weather information (wind, temperature, humidity, etc.).  GPS guidance is one of the main technologies to be studied throughout the course.  The management of this equipment and the GPS technologies used to control and record this information is the focus of the course.

 

Online Portion of the Course

Offered from January 17 through March 1, 2012

Two Full Days of Hands-On Lab Session to be Offered at Columbia and Albany, Missouri

 

Lab sessions will be held on February 12 and March 2 at the Hundley Whaley Research Farm at Albany, MO and

February 24 and March 16 at the Bradford Research and Extension Center at Columbia, MO.

 

 

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"EEO/AA/ADA institution"

 

Outline of Course by Session

(The online portion of the course is setup to formally run for 7 weeks covering the following 13 sessions.)

 

1.    Introduction to Precision Agriculture

2.    GPS Systems

3.    Overview of Machinery Management Concepts

4.    An Introduction to Mapping (GIS) Technologies

5.    Precision Ag Data Management – Field Identification – A Key Component

6.    The Nuts and Bolts GPS Guidance – Aided (Lightbars), Assisted Steering, and Automatic Guidance

7.    Tractor Issues – The main items of discussion will be GPS Guidance/Auto Steer, utilizing control systems - factory installed or aftermarket, data collection issues during the growing season – agronomic and machine data.

8.    Overview of Variable-Rate Technologies

9.    Planters

10. Fertilizer Application Equipment

11. Sprayers

12. Combines – Harvesting Equipment

13. Why Adopt GPS / Precision Ag Technologies?

 

Development of a plan to incorporate precision agriculture technology into an existing equipment line will be a central theme through the course.

Sessions 14, 15, 16, and 17 will be offered as hands-on lab sessions

There will be two full days of 2 hands-on lab sessions each day.  Day one will include a lab 14 on GPS equipment; setup and diagnostics and a lab 15 on RTK GPS setup and operation.  Day two will include lab 16 on GPS guidance/auto steer setup and operation and a lab 17 on maximizing the use of precision ag technologies from yield monitoring—combine applications to variable rate applications.

Each day’s lab session will run from 9:00 a.m. till 3:00 p.m. and be offered in two locations.  Lab sessions will be held on February 12 and March 2 at the Hundley Whaley Research Farm at Albany, MO and February 24 and March 16 at the Bradford Research and Extension Center at Columbia, MO.

 

For a complete program - click here

For a course brochure -  click here

For a fillable registration form - click here

 

For More Information Contact:

 

Kent Shannon, Natural Resource Engineer, University of Missouri Extension-Boone County, shannond@missouri.edu, 573-445-9792