Creating Opportunities
We can't predict the future, but we can make it.
The United States has lost thousands of small farms. Why? Because farmers pay retail for their inputs but sell at wholesale commodity prices. This means the next generation of farmers cannot sustain the business model, and family members must leave the farm to make a living. The Farm-i-tude curriculum was born from a long-time friendship dinner conversation on "How can we change these kids' lives?" Our focus turned to creating rural jobs with mentoring partners centered around science, technology, and engineering. These are jobs that allow students to go straight from high school to the job market. Over 2200 schools have access to the Farm-i-tude drone and crop health ACTE programs.
Small townus
"Precision Agriculture" is having the ability to farm in real-time.
The Farm-i-tude curriculum encompasses the latest in STEM, including avionics, weather, air dynamics, weights and balances, central gravity, moments, mapping software, and calculations supporting those study areas. We then work with our students to create new job pathways to carry their knowledge into SUSTAINABLE technology, including information gathered, carbon-neutral farming, water management, and cost reduction in pesticides. Previously these real-time farming technologies were only available to larger farming practices. We now brought it to all rural ACTE classrooms.
Which led to more
Farm-i-tude has developed a testing program for farmers and 107 pilots to obtain and maintain their FAA 137 drone certification. The FAA imposes stricter regulations on large agriculture drones, which can be confusing for pilots and farmers looking to incorporate drone operations into their farming practices. This green technology enables farms to integrate precision application, reducing the waste of natural resources and excessive use of chemicals.
Farm-i-tude collaborated with their local FSDO to establish a program that allows pilots to operate under Farm-i-tude and learn to comply with their own 137 drone operations.
and even more
After collaborating with over 200 pilots, Farm-i-tude and other agriculture pilots across the country have developed the Crop Flight Drone Logbook. This UAS drone logbook was created by pilots for pilots, is a requirement by the FAA for monthly flight log reporting. Farm-i-tude worked with programmers to develop the first "American Programmed" drone logbook for tracking and recording agricultural operations. Pilots and agriculture front office businesses tested the digital drone logbook to keep track of chemicals and flight information easily. It is continually updated to meet additional FAA pilot flight record requirements and state compliance so pilots can focus on flying.
Watch for the Crop Flight app comming this fall to make logging in the field even easier.