Outside, in the field, participants also gained hands-on experience in understanding cropping and water systems. Brad Ramsdale, NCTA agronomy professor, demonstrated how seed count and planter operations such as planting depth affects a crop.
“The agronomy youth day was a great success,” said Ramsdale. “All the youth were very interactive during the sessions and displayed great excitement towards the diverse professional opportunities in the field of agronomy.”
Student comments included:
» “I learned how drones can be used for different types of crop and soil management, and the different soil types and ag jobs.”
» “The $30,000 drone with the sprayer was really cool!”
» “I liked all the subjects discussed. I always learn something when I attend!”
Frontier County-Nebraska Extension hosted activities with Nebraska Extension educators, the University of Nebraska’s West Central Research, Extension & Education Center, North Platte, and NCTA staff and faculty.
Topics and instructors were:
» Crop disease, Sarah Sivits, cropping systems extension educator, Dawson/Buffalo Counties.
» Soil health, Todd Whitney, water cropping systems extension educator, Phelps County.