Overview
The Departments of Agronomy and Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering jointly offer a major leading to a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in digital and precision agriculture (DPA). Graduates will possess knowledge of geospatial and sensor technologies, agricultural systems, data analysis, and modeling, enabling them to enhance the efficiency and sustainability of production systems. They will acquire the technical skills and fundamental knowledge necessary to support data-driven decisions that improve the economic, environmental, and social sustainability of agriculture. The program will take a systems thinking approach to empower graduates to maximize the value of data generated by new technologies and evaluate interactions between the environment, crops, and machines. By integrating modern precision agriculture practices on research/teaching farms, program participants can be directly immersed in their curriculum, get hands-on experience with production data, and create meaningful lives and livelihoods.
Graduates will be prepared for careers in precision farming, agricultural business and industry, crop production and soil management, yield forecasting, data analysis, agricultural machinery, agricultural service organizations, environmental and natural resource management, and research. The DPA degree also prepares students for graduate school.
Student Learning Outcomes
Upon graduation, students should be able to:
- demonstrate a solid understanding of fundamental agricultural principles and practices, including plant and soil science, crop production, pest management, and irrigation techniques necessary for utilizing digital and precision agriculture information.
- effectively utilize advanced technologies and tools in digital and precision agriculture, including geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing, global positioning systems (GPS), drones, and data analytics.
- successfully collect, manage, analyze, interpret, and communicate agricultural data effectively, including data collection methods, data quality assessment, statistical analysis, and interpretation of results for informed decision-making.
- develop a dynamic, context-specific decision framework that utilizes problem-solving and critical thinking skills to integrate agronomic knowledge with digital and precision agriculture technologies, addressing challenges in real farming scenarios.
Curriculum in Digital and Precision Agriculture
Total Degree Requirements: 120 cr.
Only 65 cr. from a two-year institution may apply which may include up to 16 technical cr.; 9 P-NP cr. of free electives; 2.00 minimum GPA.
International Perspective: 3 cr.
3 cr. from approved International Perspective list: http://www.registrar.iastate.edu/students/div-ip-guide/IntlPerspectives-current (AGRON 1800 recommended).
U.S. Cultures and Communities: 3 cr.
3 cr. from approved U.S. Cultures and Communities list: http://www.registrar.iastate.edu/students/div-ip-guide/usdiversity-courses
Communication/Library 13 cr.
| ENGL 1500 | Critical Thinking and Communication | 3 |
| ENGL 2500 | Written, Oral, Visual, and Electronic Composition | 3 |
| LIB 1600 | Introduction to College Level Research | 1 |
| AGEDS 3110 | Presentation and Sales Strategies for Agricultural Audiences | 3 |
| One of the following: | ||
| ENGL 3090 | Proposal and Report Writing | 3 |
| ENGL 3120 | Communicating Science and Public Engagement | 3 |
| ENGL 3140 | Technical Communication | 3 |
Humanities: 3 cr.
3 cr. from approved humanities list: http://www.cals.iastate.edu/student-services/humanities
Social Sciences: 3 cr.
3 cr. from approved social sciences list: http://www.cals.iastate.edu/student-services/social-sciences (SOC 4150 Recommended)
Ethics: 3 cr.
| One of the following: | ||
| AGRON 3420 | World Food Issues: Past and Present | 3 |
| AGRON 4500 | Issues in Sustainable Agriculture | 3 |
| SOC 3250 | Agriculture in Transition | 3 |
| SOC 3620 | Applied Ethics in Agricultural and Rural Development | 3 |
Life Sciences: 3 cr.
| BIOL 2510 | Biological Processes in the Environment | 3 |
Physical Sciences: 8 cr
| AGRON 2060 | Introduction to Weather and Climate | 3 |
| One of the following: | ||
| CHEM 1630 & 1630L | College Chemistry and Laboratory in College Chemistry | 5 |
| CHEM 1670 & 1670L | General Chemistry for Engineering Students and Laboratory in General Chemistry for Engineering | 5 |
| CHEM 1770 & 1770L | General Chemistry I and Laboratory in General Chemistry I | 5 |
Mathematical Sciences: 7 cr.
| One of the following: | ||
| MATH 1430 | Preparation for Calculus | 4 |
| MATH 1600 | Survey of Calculus | 4 |
| MATH 1650 | Calculus I | 4 |
| One of the following: | ||
| STAT 1010 | Principles of Statistics | 4 |
| STAT 1040 | Introduction to Statistics | 3 |
Digital Precision Agriculture Core: 36 cr.
| DPA 1100 | Professional Development in Digital and Precision Agriculture: Orientation | 1 |
| DPA 2020 | Introduction to Digital and Precision Agriculture | 3 |
| TSM 1150 | Solving Technology Problems | 3 |
| COMS 1270 | Introduction to Computer Programming | 3 |
| AGRON 1810 | Introduction to Crop Science | 3 |
| AGRON 1820 | Introduction to Soil Science | 3 |
| AGRON 2700 | Geospatial Technologies | 3 |
| STAT 3201 | Intermediate Statistical Concepts and Methods | 4 |
| or MATH 1650 | Calculus I | |
| ENSCI 3180 | Introduction to Ecosystems | 3 |
| or BIOL 3120 | Ecology | |
| ECON 3340 | Entrepreneurship in Agriculture | 3 |
| AGRON 4020 | Digital and Precision Agricultural Systems | 4 |
| TSM 4330 | Precision Agriculture | 3 |
| DPA 3100 | Professional Development in Digital and Precision Agriculture: Work Experience | R |
Focus Area: 21 cr.
- Complete required 12 credits from one focus area.
- Complete 9 additional credits from chosen focus area, or any focus area.
Electives: 17 cr.
Total: 120 cr.
Focus Areas:
| Precision Agronomy Focus Area | ||
Required Courses: | ||
| AGRON 2800 | Crop Development, Production and Management | 3 |
| AGRON 3540 & 3540L | Soils and Plant Growth and Soils and Plant Growth Laboratory | 4 |
| NREM 4890 | Survey of Remote Sensing Technologies | 3 |
| or CRP 4540 | ||
| AGRON 3920 | Systems Analysis in Crop and Soil Management | 3 |
8 credits from the following or other options: | ||
| TSM 2100 | Fundamentals of Technology | 3 |
| ENT 3760 | Fundamentals of Entomology and Pest Management | 3 |
| PLP 4080 | Principles of Plant Path | 3 |
| AGRON 3170 | Principles of Weed Science | 3 |
| ECON 2360 | Agricultural Selling | 3 |
| Applied Data Management Focus Area | ||
Required Courses: | ||
| DS 2010 | Introduction to Data Science | 3 |
| DS 2020 | Data Acquisition and Exploratory Data Analysis | 3 |
| AGRON 4250 | Crop and Soil Modeling | 3 |
| COMS 2280 | Introduction to Data Structures | 3 |
9 credits from the following or other options: | ||
| COMS 3630 | Introduction to Database Management Systems | 3 |
| DS 3010 | Applied Data Modeling and Predictive Analysis | 3 |
| STAT 3132 | Visual Communication of Quantitative Information | 3 |
| Geospatial Applications Focus Area | ||
Required Courses: | ||
| NREM 4460 | Integrating GPS and GIS for Natural Resource Management | 3 |
| STAT 4206 | Spatial Data Analysis | 3 |
9 credits from the following or other options: | ||
| NREM 4890 | Survey of Remote Sensing Technologies | 3 |
| GEOL 4880 | Raster GIS for Geoscientists | 3 |
| DS 2010 | Introduction to Data Science | 3 |
| Precision Conservation Focus Area | ||
Required Courses: | ||
| AGRON 4250 | Crop and Soil Modeling | 3 |
| STAT 4206 | Spatial Data Analysis | 3 |
| TSM 3240 | Soil and Water Conservation Management | 3 |
| or AGRON 3600 | Environmental Soil Science | |
| or AGRON 3920 | Systems Analysis in Crop and Soil Management | |
| NREM 4600 | Controversies in Natural Resource Management | 3 |
| 9 credits from the following or other options: | ||
| BIOL 3190 | Analysis of Environmental Systems | 3 |
| BIOL 3700 | GIS for Ecology and Environmental Science | 1-6 |
| BIOL 4830 | Environmental Biogeochemistry | 3 |
| BIOL 4850 | Community Ecology | 3 |
| Ag Technology Focus Area | ||
Required Courses: | ||
| TSM 2100 | Fundamentals of Technology | 3 |
| TSM 3300 | Agricultural Machinery and Power Management | 3 |
| TSM 3630 | Electrical Power and Electrical Machinery Systems | 3 |
| TSM 3370 | Fluid Power Systems Technology | 3 |
9 credits from the following or other options: | ||
| TSM 3350 | Tractor Power | 4 |
| TSM 3650 | Electrical Controls and Sensor Systems | 3 |
| DS 2010 | Introduction to Data Science | 3 |
| NREM 4890 | Survey of Remote Sensing Technologies | 3 |
| or CRP 4550 | ||
| TSM 2160 | Advanced Technical Graphics, Interpretation, and CAD | 2 |
Four Year Plan
| Freshman | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits | ||
| DPA 1100 | 1 | AGRON 1810 | 3 | ||
| AGRON 1800 | 3 | TSM 1150 | 3 | ||
| ENGL 1500 | 3 | AGRON 1820 | 3 | ||
| LIB 1600 | 1 | COMS 1270 | 3 | ||
| MATH 1430, 1600, or 1650 | 4 | STAT 1010 or 1040 | 3-4 | ||
| CHEM 1630 | 4 | ||||
| CHEM 1630L | 1 | ||||
| 17 | 15-16 | ||||
| Sophomore | |||||
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits | Summer | Credits |
| AGRON 2060 | 3 | STAT 3201 or MATH 1650 | 4 | DPA 3100 | Required |
| DPA 2020 | 3 | AGRON 2700 | 3 | ||
| DPA Specialization Course | 3 | BIOL 2510 | 3 | ||
| ENGL 2500 | 3 | DPA Specialization Course | 3 | ||
| Humanities | 3 | ECON 1010 | 3 | ||
| 15 | 16 | 0 | |||
| Junior | |||||
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits | ||
| Elective | 3 | AGRON 3420, 4500, SOC 3250, or SOC 3620 | 3 | ||
| Elective | 3 | ENSCI 3180 or BIOL 3120 | 3-4 | ||
| AGEDS 3270, ENGL 3090, ENGL 3020, or ENGL 3140 | 3 | DPA Specialization Course | 3 | ||
| ECON 3340 | 3 | DPA Specialization Course | 3 | ||
| AGEDS 3110 | 3 | Elective | 3 | ||
| 15 | 15-16 | ||||
| Senior | |||||
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits | ||
| Elective | 3 | DPA Specialization Course | 3 | ||
| Elective | 3 | US Cultures and Communities | 3 | ||
| DPA Specialization Course | 3 | DPA 4020 | 4 | ||
| DPA Specialization Course | 3 | Elective | 3 | ||
| TSM 4330 | 3 | ||||
| 15 | 13 | ||||