Precision Agriculture Technician Apply geospatial technologies, including geographic information systems (GIS) and Global Positioning System (GPS), to agricultural production or management activities, such as pest scouting, site-specific pesticide application, yield mapping, or variable-rate irrigation. May use computers to develop or analyze maps or remote sensing images to compare physical topography with data on soils, fertilizer, pests, or weather.
Precision Agriculture Technician is Also Know as
In different settings, Precision Agriculture Technician is titled as
- Agrintelligence Specialist (Agriculture Intelligence Specialist)
- Agronomist
- Agronomy Consultant
- Crop Consultant
- Crop Specialist
- Precision Agriculture Analyst (Precision Ag Analyst)
- Precision Agriculture Specialist (Precision Ag Specialist)
- Precision Agronomist
- Precision Farming Coordinator
- Precision Technology Agronomist (Precision Tech Agronomist)
Education and Training of Precision Agriculture Technician
Precision Agriculture Technician is categorized in Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Precision Agriculture Technician
Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.
Education Required for Precision Agriculture Technician
Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.
Degrees Related to Precision Agriculture Technician
- Bachelor in Agriculture, General
- Associate Degree Courses in Agriculture, General
- Masters Degree Courses in Agriculture, General
- Bachelor in Animal Sciences, General
- Associate Degree Courses in Animal Sciences, General
- Masters Degree Courses in Animal Sciences, General
- Bachelor in Dairy Science
- Associate Degree Courses in Dairy Science
- Masters Degree Courses in Dairy Science
- Bachelor in Poultry Science
- Associate Degree Courses in Poultry Science
- Masters Degree Courses in Poultry Science
- Bachelor in Plant Sciences, General
- Associate Degree Courses in Plant Sciences, General
- Masters Degree Courses in Plant Sciences, General
- Bachelor in Agronomy and Crop Science
- Associate Degree Courses in Agronomy and Crop Science
- Masters Degree Courses in Agronomy and Crop Science
Training Required for Precision Agriculture Technician
Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Precision Agriculture Technician in different industries are
- Soil and Plant Scientists
- Agricultural Engineers
- Agricultural Technicians
- Conservation Scientists
- Industrial Ecologists
- Forest and Conservation Technicians
- Geological Technicians, Except Hydrologic Technicians
- Farmers, Ranchers, and Other Agricultural Managers
- Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health
- Range Managers
- Environmental Science and Protection Technicians, Including Health
- Remote Sensing Scientists and Technologists
- Hydrologists
- Agricultural Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary
- Environmental Restoration Planners
- Environmental Engineering Technologists and Technicians
- Animal Scientists
- Geodetic Surveyors
- Hydrologic Technicians
- Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation
What Do Precision Agriculture Technician do?
- Program farm equipment, such as variable-rate planting equipment or pesticide sprayers, based on input from crop scouting and analysis of field condition variability.
- Compare crop yield maps with maps of soil test data, chemical application patterns, or other information to develop site-specific crop management plans.
- Install, calibrate, or maintain sensors, mechanical controls, GPS-based vehicle guidance systems, or computer settings.
- Collect information about soil or field attributes, yield data, or field boundaries, using field data recorders and basic geographic information systems (GIS).
- Identify spatial coordinates, using remote sensing and Global Positioning System (GPS) data.
- Divide agricultural fields into georeferenced zones, based on soil characteristics and production potentials.
- Identify areas in need of pesticide treatment by analyzing geospatial data to determine insect movement and damage patterns.
- Recommend best crop varieties or seeding rates for specific field areas, based on analysis of geospatial data.
- Create, layer, and analyze maps showing precision agricultural data, such as crop yields, soil characteristics, input applications, terrain, drainage patterns, or field management history.
- Contact equipment manufacturers for technical assistance, as needed.
- Analyze remote sensing imagery to identify relationships between soil quality, crop canopy densities, light reflectance, and weather history.
- Document and maintain records of precision agriculture information.
- Draw or read maps, such as soil, contour, or plat maps.
- Advise farmers on upgrading Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment to take advantage of newly installed advanced satellite technology.
- Apply precision agriculture information to specifically reduce the negative environmental impacts of farming practices.
- Participate in efforts to advance precision agriculture technology, such as developing advanced weed identification or automated spot spraying systems.
- Provide advice on the development or application of better boom-spray technology to limit the overapplication of chemicals and to reduce the migration of chemicals beyond the fields being treated.
- Use geospatial technology to develop soil sampling grids or identify sampling sites for testing characteristics such as nitrogen, phosphorus, or potassium content, pH, or micronutrients.
- Demonstrate the applications of geospatial technology, such as Global Positioning System (GPS), geographic information systems (GIS), automatic tractor guidance systems, variable rate chemical input applicators, surveying equipment, or computer mapping software.
- Analyze data from harvester monitors to develop yield maps.
- Analyze geospatial data to determine agricultural implications of factors such as soil quality, terrain, field productivity, fertilizers, or weather conditions.
- Prepare reports in graphical or tabular form, summarizing field productivity or profitability.
Qualities of Good Precision Agriculture Technician
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Tools Used by Precision Agriculture Technician
- Air clutches
- Automatic boom control systems
- Automatic land leveling systems
- Autosteering systems
- Desktop computers
- Fertilizer spreading equipment
- Field personal computers PC
- Global positioning system GPS receivers
- Laptop computers
- Lightbar guidance systems
- Moisture monitors
- Personal computers
- Seed drills
- Soil electrical conductivity measurement devices
- Soil samplers
- Sprayer application equipment
- Tractor mounted soil probes
- Variable rate applicators
- Yield monitor systems
Technology Skills required for Precision Agriculture Technician
- Ag Leader Technology SMS Advanced
- AGCO GTA Software Suite
- ESRI ArcGIS software
- ESRI ArcPad
- ESRI ArcView
- Farm Works Site Pro
- GeoAgro GIS
- Geographic information system GIS systems
- Global positioning system GPS software
- John Deere Apex Farm Management
- MapShots EASi Suite
- Microsoft Access
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Word
- Novariant AutoFarm AF Viewer
- SST Development Group SSToolbox
- Trimble AgGPS EZ-Map
- Trimble AgGPS MultiPlane
- Web browser software