Ivy Tech Community College Lafayette Dedicates New Bane-Welker Precision Ag Lab

TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI) — The demand for precision agricultural technicians is on the rise, and Ivy Tech with the help of Bane-Welker is working to fill those positions.

The new Bane-Welker Precision Agriculture Lab is giving ag students at Ivy Tech a new path to become one of those precision ag-techs.

Precision ag-techs are vital to farmers that use modern farming technology. Students train to become technicians on the newest technology like virtual equipment simulators and drone sprayers. Those newly trained techs allow farmers to produce higher crop yields with fewer people in the fields.

Much like other jobs in a “tech” sector these jobs are not entry-level, low-paying positions. Scott Hedrow, a current precision ag-tech at Bane-Welker and Ivy Tech alum says these jobs are vital to the future of farming in the U.S.

“These are going to be high paying jobs where you have good benefits most of the time, Hedrow said. “It really opens up opportunities in the future. These jobs, when you get the basic skill sets mastered, it leads into other parts and portions of the industry where those skills sets are needed.”

Hedrow says his education at Ivy Tech prepared him for his career, but current students have even more tools at their disposal. This program is even better suited for student success once they graduate.

“You know, I look at this toolbox as precision farming being one of those tools and when we see the need for that increased productivity that’s where we see a system like this becomes important,” Scott Hedrow of Bane-Walker said.

Bane-Welker donated the funds needed to furnish the new ag lab.

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