It was a look into the future, especially agriculture’s future, with a special drone curriculum and competition put together with the cooperation of Danville Area Community College and the U of I Extension program. Thursday morning, students from area high schools participating in the drone curriculum were able to compete in guiding drones through an obstacle course at Mary Miller Gymnasium.
A drone takes off from the starting point at DACC’s Mary Miller Gymnasium while judges observe and evaluate.
But more importantly, the U of I Extension was there to talk about how drones are already used in agriculture. Dennis Bowman from the Extension, for example, was talking with students on how today’s drones can locate from up above specific problems in a corn or soybean field. Or even how a drone can fly to the top of a grain elevator and find out what specific new part is needed, instead of having a person make the dangerous climb to the top.
As students await their turns and observe displays inside, Dennis Bowman from the U of I Extension talks with students outside about drones’ value to agriculture.
And then, there’s the future. Drones that will become bigger, more versatile, and be able to handle dangerous jobs on the farm like crop dusting, for example. Tom Fricke of the Vermilion County Farm Bureau was in attendance, along with numerous companies interested in having the students maybe work for them someday. Fricke says, no doubt, these youngsters represent the future of drones in agriculture.
AUDIO: These kids are the ones that are going to be dealing with this future for the next 30, 40, 50, years. And so it’s great to have an opporunity like this to learn more about drone technology, hone their skills, and be a part of that future.
A big thank you to DACC Ag instructor Brandy Marron for speaking with us prior to this event, and inviting us to join in viewing a big part of drone future and agriculture’s future.
The four high schools that won their own drones from Thursday’s competition are as follows:
4th Place: Urbana
3rd Place: Oakland
2nd Place: Villa Grove
1st Place: Rantoul
