Southwest Ag Summit introduces latest ag-tech to AWC students

Southwest Ag Summit Day Two: Field Demonstrations

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA) - In its 11th year, the Southwest Ag Summit continues its vision of bringing knowledge and innovation to agriculture.

Out on the land lab where Arizona Western College (AWC) agriculture students typically use for classes, companies from across the U.S. and around the world exposed Yuma to the industry's latest technology advancements.

Planting the next steps in their careers, students had the chance to network with agriculture industry professionals, teaching the next generation how to use technology to their advantage.

AWC's agriculture science manager, Leigh Loughead, said, “It’s very important that our students understand the technology that it takes as well as understand the amount of work it takes in order to feed the world.”

Francisco Aguirre a sophomore agriculture student at AWC.

“It makes you realize that technology is whats next. Some of the new technology that we’ve been interacting with is our automatic weeders and thinners that are used to replace weeding crews and labor crews," Aguirre said.

The evolution of ag-tech has exposed farmers to things like apps, automated seeding, and irrigation systems, and even robots making farming economically and systematically more efficient.

AWC offers five agriculture degree options for students to get their associate's degree and make a clean transfer to the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, or Northern Arizona University.