Funding Agencies: United Stated Department of Education FIPSE Grant No: P116J040005 and European Commission’s Multinational Partnerships for Cooperation in Higher Education program
Duration: September 2004 – August 2008
Team Members:
George Vellidis (US Lead)
Biological & Agricultural Engineering Dept.
University of Georgia, USA
yiorgos@uga.edu
William (Bill) Batchelor
Dept. of Agricultural and Biological Engineering
Mississippi State University, USA
Paul Mask
Office of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources
Alabama Cooperative Extension System
Auburn University, USA
Theofanis A. Gemtos (EU Lead)
Laboratory of Farm Mechanisation
Faculty of Agriculture, Crop Production, and Rural Environment
Panepistimio Thessalias, Greece
Francesco Morari
Departimento di Agronomia Ambientale e Produzioni Vegetali
Università degli Studi di Padova, Italy
Hermann Auernhammer
Fachgebiet Technik im Pflanzenbau
Technischen Universität München, Germany
Summary:
The goal of this program was to provide permanent integrated linkages between the 6 academic institutions in the United States and the European Union participating in the TransAtlantic Precision Agriculture Consortium (TAPAC). Precision agriculture was our vehicle for achieving this goal and also the means by which we attempted to enhance agriculture and food safety in the United States and the European Union.
This project addressed the critical need of providing the necessary training to rising agricultural professionals on both sides of the Atlantic through the development of internet-based educational modules and student experiential learning on three topics: Engineering Applications of Precision Agriculture; Agronomic Applications of Precision Agriculture, and Food Safety Applications of Precision Agriculture. In addition to providing technical expertise, the proposed education and student exchange program will promoted mutual understanding, recognition of common problems, and highlight the comparative strengths of the partner institutions. The key to the success of the program was the students’ understanding that the global economy is infusing new realities and demands into the world’s food production system that must be successfully incorporated into the cultural basis of any country for that country to remain competitive in this vital sector. The program was open to upper division undergraduate students and graduate students. Students participating in our program progressed through three phases of learning that required approximately 1 year to complete. Phase 1 consisted of technical training, Phase 2 consisted of cultural training, and Phase 3 consisted of application of skills learned in phases 1 and 2. Phases 1 and 2 were completed at the home institution while Phase 3 was completed at the host institution. Each phase had duration of one semester. Twenty-two US and 21 EU students participated in the project. The average exchange period was 11 weeks. For more information on this project, please download the final evaluation report and read the section on undergraduate international student exchange on this web page.