If you’ve never been to a farm – or maybe it’s been awhile – you may not know just how much technology goes into producing the crops, dairy products and other items we rely on every day.
Adam Wehling knows this firsthand. Not only is he the dean of agriculture, energy, construction and transportation at Chippewa Valley Technical College, he also runs a hobby farm with his wife producing strawberries, eggs, meat birds and beef. Despite having a smaller operation, Wehling still does tissue sampling on his strawberries to make sure he’s applying the correct nutrients to the plants.
“We want to make sure we’re applying nutrients where the nature, the environment, the water table, the soil and everything else is maintained healthy,” he said.
Wehling talked with STUFF about how technology shows up on the farm:
STUFF: What does technology enable a farmer to do and what drives its adoption?
Adam Wehling: “There’s probably two factors. One is there is a shortage of qualified workers and that goes across the board for all the trades in most industry sectors, so they’re needing to become more efficient with less available workforce. The second thing is that the margins in the agricultural industry continue to be tight. … If they can reduce their expense to produce a product, become more efficient at producing it, then they’re going to make more money on it.”
STUFF: What do the job prospects look like at the intersection of ag and technology?
Wehling: “The job demands are very strong. I’d say that for every graduate that we have out of our technical college programs … we’ve got anywhere from three to 10 job opportunities for these people and if they’re willing to move and travel around, there’s even more.”
STUFF: What should I know about working in agriculture?
Wehling: “Typically, you see in the ag world employers expect people to show up and to work hard. There are jobs that are 8 to 5, but there’s also jobs that have a little bit longer days requested and some of the stuff might be seasonal. … In the ag sector, a lot of people are asking you to be a little bit more invested as far as what you’re giving to that organization and also know that there’s an opportunity for a lot of overtime.”
STUFF: What about the challenges facing farming?
Wehling: “I always tell people that agriculture evolves. Agriculture jobs don’t go away, they evolve. What you’re doing today you may not be doing in 20 years, but you may be doing a more improved version of it. We’re always going to have people that are going to need food and so the ag industry produces food and fiber and clothing and trees and paper, that’s all coming out of the ag sector. Even energy can be loosely tied to the ag sector. When you look at those, these are essential baseline functions of society, these jobs are never going away, but they will change and they will evolve and they will become more modernized.”
STUFF: What are your recommendations for high school students?
Wehling: “My general recommendation to any high school student is you don’t have to know exactly the job you want to do in high school. … I think what high school students should do if they want to be part of the ag sector is they should pick a general area that they’re interested in like ‘I like working with animals’ or ‘I like working on the business side of things’ and they should explore career development in those areas and let those areas guide you to those positions that you really end up doing some day. … Most kids get hung up on ‘I don’t know what I want to do so I’m going to make a rash decision’ and it’s not really what truly aligns with their personal view.”
Off the farm
Not all ag jobs require working in the field or milking cows. Some people could find jobs in marketing, accounting or banking where an interest in animals or agriculture could help serve customers. Wehling also said the industry offers lots of opportunities for people to start their own business or to work part-time on the side from their regular job.
Crops
Farmers can now use detailed data on soil and nutrients to direct how many seeds they plant, how they apply fertilizers or when and where to irrigate. Drone and satellite images help inform these decisions and then tissue sampling can show how well the practices worked.
Equipment
Technology on agricultural equipment continues to advance with automated steering and sensors to enable precision planting. That means the first step to diagnosing an issue is often to connect to a laptop or other scanning tool. Equipment makers are also able to remotely monitor equipment and let farmers know when it is due for an oil change or other maintenance. Service technicians are increasingly in demand.