Agriculture is changing. The agricultural industry is no longer the exclusive domain of farmers and ranchers, but is increasingly becoming a home for engineers, technicians, drone pilots, and computer…

Utah State University received a $459,000 Project Grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), CFDA 10.310, awarded December 1, 2025, with completion scheduled for November 30, 2028. The project addresses the gap between school-based agricultural education (SBAE) and technology and engineering education (TEE) by developing and delivering a professional development program that trains teachers in both disciplines to collaboratively teach agricultural robotics. The initiative recognizes that modern agriculture increasingly requires multidisciplinary expertise in robotics, automation, unmanned aerial vehicles, artificial intelligence, and related technologies—areas in which many current agricultural educators lack preparation. By fostering cross-disciplinary teaching approaches, the program aims to enhance both agricultural and technological literacy among students through the integrated context of agricultural robotics applications.

The primary deliverables include four professional development workshops designed to equip SBAE and TEE teachers with collaborative instructional strategies and content knowledge in agricultural robotics and precision agriculture systems. Participating teachers will gain skills and resources necessary to integrate advanced agricultural technologies into their curricula, bridging the traditional gap between agriculture and technology education disciplines. This education and workforce development initiative aligns with AFRI's broader mission to train the next generation of the food and agriculture workforce while addressing emerging workforce demands created by technological innovation in the agricultural sector.

Agriculture is changing. The agricultural industry is no longer the exclusive domain of farmers and ranchers, but is increasingly becoming a home for engineers, technicians, drone pilots, and computer programmers. As technological innovation changes the landscape of agriculture, new approaches to developing agricultural literacy and skills that reflect the multidisciplinary nature of modern agricultural challenges are becoming increasingly essential.unfortunately, many current school-based agricultural education(sbae) teachers are unprepared to address precision and advanced agriculture systems and technologies that are now being implemented in industry, such as robotics and automation, unmanned aerial vehicles, internet of things, artificial intelligence, etc., in their curriculum. At the same time, many agricultural educators work in career and technical education (CTE) departments in their schools or districts alongside technology and engineering education (tee) teachers who teach robotics, electronics, computer coding, and other essential skills for agricultural robotics applications. Tee teachers have not traditionally utilizedagriculture as a context for teaching technological literacy, resulting in a GAP in the technological literacy of their students. The purpose of this projectis to engage sbae and tee teachers in cross-disciplinary teaching that will enhance the ability of teachers in both disciplines to increase agricultural and technological literacy among their students through collaborative efforts in the area of agricultural robotics. These goals will be accomplished througha professional development program that will provide training to sbae and tee teacherson collaborative, cross-disciplinary teaching in agriculture and technology to enhance the agricultural and technological literacy of students using the context of agricultural robotics.participating teacherswill take part in one of four professional development workshops, which will focus on developing teachers' ability to collaborate across disciplinary boundaries to teach agricultural and technological literacy using robotics and automation in agriculture. In addition to the implementation within their own curriculum, participants will train at least one other teacher in their home schools/districts. This project will contribute directly to the improvement of agricultural workforce training in the following ways:improve sbae teachers' ability to develop sbae students' technical skills that are relevant to the modern agricultural industry through cross-disciplinary collaboration.increase the agricultural literacy of tee students by improving tee teachers' familiarity with agricultural applications for technology and engineering education and technology-related careers in the agriculture sector, and by encouraging cross-disciplinary collaboration between tee and sbae teachers.