University of Saskatchewan announces new precision agriculture certificate

A new certificate program offered by the University of Saskatchewan (USask) will set out to provide students the opportunity to “gain knowledge and develop experiential skills in precision agriculture by leveraging competencies from their academic discipline.”

Housed in the College of Agriculture and Bioresources, the certificate will bring together USask students from AgBio, the College of Engineering, and the Department of Computer Science, to study agriculture technology.

USask says students will learn how to manage crops precisely to increase both production and sustainability, which includes knowledge of the technologies used in precision agriculture, such as satellite imagery, global positioning and information systems, big data, yield mapping, and management zones, to understand what drives within-field crop yield variability from year to year.

Dr. Angela Bedard-Haughn, dean of the College of Agriculture and Bioresources, says the certificate in precision agriculture is the third new academic program announced by the college in the last year.

“Our college is continually growing and strives to respond to student and community needs: providing hands-on training that combines both the ‘how’ and the ‘why’ and learning directly from industry-leading researchers,” Bedard-Haughn says. “With this new certificate program, we continue to equip students with the critical thinking skills they need that will go beyond when a certain technology may become obsolete.”

USask students can earn the Certificate in Precision Agriculture concurrently with a degree program from the College of Agriculture and Bioresources. This certificate is also available to USask students studying computer science or engineering, with the first group beginning classes in September 2023.

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