News

Overcoming precision agriculture barriers in Hungary

A university in Hungary is helping farmers overcome barriers to precision agriculture by preparing a workforce to use new technology and equipment.

Endre Harsányi is the vice rector for Agricultural Innovation and Training Development at the University of Debrecen.

“In the last 5-10 years Hungarian farmers started precision agirulcutre and bought new equipment but it’s a very big problem because drivers and operators couldn’t use the equipment and complex systems,” he says. “We would like to help farmers so that when students finish school directly they can help farmers by beginning work on farms.”

He tells Brownfield the university plans to build a new precision agriculture and center for robotics in 2022 and is expecting 200 new students in the first year.

It also started a new course in precision agriculture engineering.  

“The agriculture sector technology is changing and we’re seeing that the normal agriculture engineer is not enough at the moment,” he says. “We’re needing to reform our courses to include precision agriculture engineering. Plant and animal breeding courses also need refreshing.”

The university also has a cooperation with the University of South Dakota. In 2023 the universities are planning to have online precision agriculture lectures that can be attended by students from each university.

Brownfield interviewed Harsányi during a recent U.S. Press trip to Budapest hosted by Mediaworks.