SPRINGFIELD — The Clark State Community College Precision Agriculture program has been named in the Top 10 programs by the editors of Precision Ag magazine.

“The editors of Precision Ag magazine nominated programs, then asked industry precision ag leaders and colleges with precision ag programs to vote on the best program,” explained Dr. Larry Everett, professor and coordinator, Precision Agriculture director, Ohio Center for Precision Agriculture.

Clark State ranked 7th nationally with National Science Program precision ag partners Parkland College (IL) ranking 2nd and Ellsworth Community College (IA) ranking 3rd.

Currently, there are more than 20 students enrolled in Clark State’s growing Precision Agriculture program.

“We received a $200, 000 grant from the State of Ohio to further develop the program,” said Everett. “We plan to purchase a tractor and precision planter among other items. The land laboratory will allow additional hands-on activities.”

Everett said the Clark State Precision Agriculture program is unique because it focuses on data management emphasizing production agriculture and the many horticulture applications.

Everett said every agriculture career is critically short of employees and the biggest benefit of the precision ag is allowing the collected data to allocate assets where they will be the most productive and not use assets where they will not.

The Precision Agriculture program option emphasizes preparation for agriculture service-industry occupations. Courses are offered in soil science, soil fertility, plant pests, precision agriculture, remote sensing, applied GIS for agriculture and data analysis.