AgroTek Innovation will offers hands-on, timely and engaging experiences to build a technology-savvy workforce for Vermont's agricultural future.
Launched with funding from a USDA, AFRI Food and Agriculture Non Formal Education grant, AgroTek Innovation includes a variety of learning experiences that build educational and career pipelines through hands on research, project based application, peer to peer learning, relationship building and more.
AgroTek Innovation provide deep learning into the following topics:
- Shifting the Waste to Value Paradigm by converting agricultural waste into value added products;
- Using Virtual Reality for More Precise Agriculture; and
- Culturing Cells for Healthier Soils.
Through experiences like conferences and academies, participants begin to make decisions regarding the design, execution and evaluation of projects that enhances use of technology in agriculture, the environment, and food systems. With an eye to current and emergent technologies and societal needs, our curriculum spans basic research, production, processing, opportunity recognition, design thinking, prototyping, and economic impact of the food, fiber and energy potential, using faculty expertise in precision agriculture with virtual reality technology and a variety of unique agricultural crops including algae, legumes, and industrial hemp fibers. This initiative takes a transdisciplinary approach that equips students in grades 7-12 with transferable skills to be applied to many settings. And, the project connects teens to faculty and undergraduate mentors to foster networks and future goals.
Teachers of all kinds can use the content for deeper or further learning in classrooms or non-formal education settings. Check out AgroTek Innovation’s offerings!