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Looking for ideas for some short course online learning for an apprentice. He has a few weeks off work and is open to using some of the time to learn.
My first thought was FACTS but he’s only been with us 7 months, so maybe a bit too much in at the deep end. He is on a modern apprenticeship, so there is a college course he’s already on, but it’s not exactly challenging, he’s a bright lad and has basically completed the 12month course in 6 months.
We’re a cereal and veg farm, and I’m interested in learning more on the soil/plant health side as we’ve been pretty neglectful to our land with our past intensive cropping, also we need to be less reliant on bagged and canned inputs, so this is an area I’d like to steer learning towards. We have grown, under guidance, a (healthy, viable, good yield potential) crop this year with no bagged N, P or K, so there is another way and it works. I remember at Groundswell there were various learning opportunities on offer in this vein, but I’ve forgotten most of what I saw.
Also, I’m a bit of a dinosaur regarding smart technology and how it can improve what we do. We’ve 2 rtk guidance systems and an agleader in the sprayer but I’m not utilising them to the full potential because I’m not very good with them. I’d love to sit at the computer and plan things more scientifically, and make things easier for the operators as a result, but what we do now works, and I’m not convinced the effort of setting up a load of clever computer stuff would be rewarded, plus I’d probably balls it up and revert to paper anyway. Apprentice is of the smart tech generation so would possibly be quicker to pick stuff up and help me figure out how to best improve what we do What do others think? How would you get him learning about utilising the tech on offer when not at trade events, or on the farm, or having much experience in farming bar the last 7 months?….,. Bit of a difficult question worded badly now I read it back….,
Any suggestions gratefully received.
thanks
My first thought was FACTS but he’s only been with us 7 months, so maybe a bit too much in at the deep end. He is on a modern apprenticeship, so there is a college course he’s already on, but it’s not exactly challenging, he’s a bright lad and has basically completed the 12month course in 6 months.
We’re a cereal and veg farm, and I’m interested in learning more on the soil/plant health side as we’ve been pretty neglectful to our land with our past intensive cropping, also we need to be less reliant on bagged and canned inputs, so this is an area I’d like to steer learning towards. We have grown, under guidance, a (healthy, viable, good yield potential) crop this year with no bagged N, P or K, so there is another way and it works. I remember at Groundswell there were various learning opportunities on offer in this vein, but I’ve forgotten most of what I saw.
Also, I’m a bit of a dinosaur regarding smart technology and how it can improve what we do. We’ve 2 rtk guidance systems and an agleader in the sprayer but I’m not utilising them to the full potential because I’m not very good with them. I’d love to sit at the computer and plan things more scientifically, and make things easier for the operators as a result, but what we do now works, and I’m not convinced the effort of setting up a load of clever computer stuff would be rewarded, plus I’d probably balls it up and revert to paper anyway. Apprentice is of the smart tech generation so would possibly be quicker to pick stuff up and help me figure out how to best improve what we do What do others think? How would you get him learning about utilising the tech on offer when not at trade events, or on the farm, or having much experience in farming bar the last 7 months?….,. Bit of a difficult question worded badly now I read it back….,
Any suggestions gratefully received.
thanks