Highland Community College Names Softball Coaches for the 2021-22 Season
Highland Community College is pleased to announce that Gregory Cary has been named the new Head... Read More
Highland Community College Wamego Welcomes Women Managing the Farm to Campus
published February 25, 2019Highland Community College’s Wamego Campus hosted pre-conference events for Women Managing the Farm Conference on February 6, 2019. Around 30 women in agriculture gathered to attend sessions on Precision Ag and Viticulture and Enology and to hear from other women with careers in agriculture.
“This event was a wonderful way to expose attendees to the advancing technologies of the production agriculture world,” said Darcie Gallagher Instructor of Precision Ag at HCC Wamego. “We were able to break thing down by growing season for participants to dig deep and learn about precision ag.”
Career testimonials were given by Shannon Blocker, Potawattomie County Extension Agent; Darci Paull, Kansas Forest Services GIS Specialist; and Jessi Rillinger, Pinnacle Ag Sales Agronomist.
“We also were lucky to hear from ladies with careers in agriculture. It’s always good to gather and talk about opportunities and challenges in our field,” Gallegher noted.
The Precision Ag workshop was broken down into four different rotations to simulate what a producer may go through during the growing year. In the section focusing on January-March, participants looked at crop prescription analysis through SST Summit, an industry agronomic data tool. The April-June rotation emphasized healthy soil analysis through soil sampling and accurate planning. In the July-September rotation participants were exposed the various capabilities of drone technology while finally the October-December section focused on the importance of grain storage. Rotations were led by Eric Wright an HCC Instructor of Precision Ag; George Ebert a local producer; Kurt Dillon at Representative from the Kansas Department of Education; and John Remmert a Wamego Precision Ag student.
Participants also got a look at the Viticulture & Enology program at Highland. Women were able to take part in a wine sensory exercise, tour the still under construction 456 Winery and Incubator on the Wamego Campus, learn about grape growing cycles and winemaking with HCC Enologists Matthew Kahl, Viticulturist Candice Fitch- Deitz, and Director of Viticulture and Enology Scott Kohl.
