Precision Agriculture Technician

Because it dates back 10,000 years and was mankind’s first industry, agriculture has an undeserved reputation for being low-tech. “Undeserved” because the truth is: Modern farming is a lot more than primitive seed sowing, irrigation, and crop rotation; along with tractors and fertilizers, it’s computers, biotechnology, and environmental science — all of which scream “advanced” instead of “archaic.”

A Precision Agriculture Technician is a prime example of how agriculture has evolved from the Dark Ages into the 21st century, as it’s a Precision Agriculture Technician’s job to use geospatial technology — including geographic information systems (GIS) and the global positioning system (GPS) — to enhance agricultural productivity.

Employed by private farms, agricultural consulting firms, and government agencies, you’re part of the “precision agriculture” movement, which seeks to optimize farm management by combining crop science with information technology. As familiar with computers as you are with crops, you’re therefore paid to collect data about soil, fields, and yields using field data recorders and GIS — digital systems that capture, store, and analyze geographic information — and to build topographical maps of farmland using GPS. Then, high-tech land data in hand, you help Farmers make strategic decisions about issues such as crop selection, pest management, irrigation, fertilizing, field management, etc.

Your goal as a Precision Agriculture Technician is to try to make farms more economically productive, more environmentally sustainable, and more strategically competitive.

With a unique combination of soil science and satellite imagery, you’re like a digital “Farmer and the Dell”: To feed people more productively, you practice Farming 2.0!