An award-winning precision farming specialist has stepped in to help boost the technical training of the next generation of skilled agriculturalists.

Angus-based SoilEssentials is helping Dundee and Angus College, which successfully applied for a £50k College Innovation Fund award from the Scottish Funding Council to support students who want to pursue hi-tech rural careers. This funding has now partially been used to purchase a bespoke package of industry-leading precision farming guidance equipment from SoilEssentials.

Robert Ramsay, of SoilEssentials, explained: “It fantastic to see our local agricultural college benefit from this funding, allowing them to introduce the latest precision farming technology to the curriculum. I believe it’s hugely important to ensure that the emerging farming workforce has exposure to this type of equipment early in their training and careers.”

“It has also been a pleasure to work with the college. We discussed with them the wide range of precision guidance and steering solutions available, took on board their aims and objectives and then presented a bespoke solution.”

“Keith Sinclair, one of our expert engineers has now visited The Glebe, the farm associated with the Arbroath college campus, to install Trimble equipment in three tractors. Products supplied and fitted included a Trimble EZ-Guide 250 guidance display and two Trimble GFX-750 guidance displays along with our own EssentialsNet RTK correction signal.”

Peter Beattie, agricultural lecturer at Dundee and Angus College, added: “We’ve introduced agri-tech and precision farming lessons into our new courses at the college. It is important that we ensure these courses are not isolated from the ever-changing technology developed and deployed in the wider agricultural industry."