Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1481117
farm406 50 Researchers use a combination of devices — like drones, GPS collars with cameras, and cameras on water stations — to observe how much cale eat, where and what they prefer, and to gather additional statistics. Pasture weather stations show how cale respond to different conditions and give ranchers a beer idea of how to care for their herd. DelCurto says there are several goals to this research. Precision agriculture practices can help with labor shortages by allowing ranchers to understand when and where to feed animals quickly. ey, too, can monitor statistics from the comfort of their home or office. With a relatively short forage season in Montana, precision agriculture lets ranchers be more precise in how their animals eat and what they need in terms of supplements. DelCurto admits that there's a learning curve. Implementing precision agriculture involves a lot of data science; however, he is confident that, with the help of the MSU community, producers will see its long-term benefits. Additionally, combining data and agriculture sciences gives College of Agriculture students an interdisciplinary education, which he sees as a beginning for successful precision agriculture adoption across the state. "I think with land-grant universities, they work within a discipline, and in some cases, they're defined by walls and buildings," DelCurto said. "What we're finding with this kind of research is that you end up having networks outside your department and sometimes outside of your college. Precision ag gives you the opportunity to partner with other departments or universities, bring in these new resources and people with new expertise that you don't have. Now you have the ability to answer questions we never could in the past." While precision agriculture research has been conducted for years on campus and in the fields, the College of Agriculture has its sights set much higher. Since she came to campus in 2019, Bajwa has campaigned for MSU to have a formal precision agriculture program and invest in its opportunities for the state of Montana. Bajwa has seen precision agriculture's benefits herself. Before MSU, she was chair of North Dakota State University's Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering and Combining data and agriculture sciences give College of Agriculture students an interdisciplinary education, which he sees as a beginning for successful precision agriculture adoption across the state.