Agriculture
In his over twenty years teaching at Alfred State, Phil Schroeder has seen the evolution of the agriculture program.
Schroeder, the department chair and a professor in the agriculture and veterinary technology program, has taught courses in numerous areas of agriculture and specializes in soil science and precision agriculture. He has seen the advances in training and technology with both soil education and at the farm.
"We've made a lot of changes to the College Farm Laboratory. We have a DeLaval robotic milker for the organic dairy herd, a feed-pushing robot, livestock scales that read out to your cell phone and a quality beef herd. We are also in the process of installing a Lely vector feeding system for the dairy as well as automating the environmental controls in that barn."
"While automation technology may not be right for every farm, we include it in our programs to help prepare students for the future. Modern management for crops is down to one hundred square feet in scale, with other crops being managed by the plant. Many jobs in the future will require knowledge of this technology. Our dairy barn, with its continued automation upgrades, is one of the most sophisticated in the country, certainly on a college campus, and helps prepare our students for this future."
Access to innovative technology, hands-on education, and a caring and knowledgeable faculty are key to success of the agriculture program at Alfred State. “We have awesome animals and amazing facilities. Our faculty can help students completely new to agriculture as well as students coming from generational farms. Our facilities and hands-on teaching style allow us to prepare all students for careers in agriculture."
Schroeder points out the need for experts in the agriculture field will always be there, “no farms, no food! If you want to eat, people must do this.”
“We have awesome animals and amazing facilities. Our faculty can help students completely new to agriculture as well as students coming from generational farms. Our facilities and hands-on teaching style allow us to prepare all students for careers in agriculture."
