An opening ceremony was held at the Lincoln University campus today to celebrate the new Master of Precision Agriculture programme, which has its first intake of students this year.
Taught in conjunction with the University of Canterbury (UC) and drawing on expertise from Lincoln Agritech Ltd, the programme teaches the essentials of using cutting-edge digital technologies to boost productivity and reduce environmental impacts in the primary industries.
Students, industry representatives and Lincoln and UC staff turned out to the opening ceremony at the Te Kete Ika building this afternoon.
Programme Director Dr Majeed Safa, who is a Senior Lecturer in Engineering at Lincoln University, said there were many precision agriculture companies in the area, which would help with employment.
He thanked representatives from DairyNZ, John Deere and Carrfields Ltd, who had come to the event.
“It’s important that our students are connected with industry,” he said.
Professor Richard Green, of the University of Canterbury, will teach some of the course content in the second semester and said he was thrilled to be working with Lincoln on the new programme.
“Lincoln is the best land-based university in New Zealand and probably Australasia,” he said. “It’s a small campus with a lovely atmosphere and we know that student satisfaction tends to be higher at smaller universities.
“There’s a very advanced agricultural faculty here at Lincoln and a very advanced engineering faculty at UC so it’s the perfect partnership for this programme.”
The students will become technical leaders, working as data-driven scientists, consultants, or sustainable production managers.
“The goal of the programme is to produce students with the technical skills necessary to move directly into the precision agriculture field,” said Dr Safa.
