Agricultural engineers association colleges day

DATE: Thursday 15th July 2010
TIMES: 10:00-16:00
LOCATION: Cranfield University
COST: FREE

AIM OF COLLEGES DAY:
1. To establish the demands and requirements of the industry
2. To establish up to date capabilities and needs of the Colleges
3. To look at the Funding issue
4. Summary and Actions

PROGRAMME

10.00 Registration and Coffee
10.30 Welcome. Alastair Tulloch (Claas) Chairman of the AEA Training & Education Committee or Roger Lane-Nott (AEA CEO)
10.45 Session 1. The Demand Side Requirement. The aim of this session is to try to establish what requirements of the manufacturers and dealers in training engineers but particularly technicians.
Farm Equipment Manufacturer/Dealer – 15 mins
Outdoor Power Equipment Manufacturer / Dealer – 15 mins
11.15 Session 2. The Supply Side. What can the colleges provide and what are their requirements and problem areas.
Further Education College – 15 mins
Higher Education College – 15 mins
11.45 Comfort Break
12.00 Debate. Chaired by Chris Whetnall (CEO Institute of Agricultural Engineers)
What are the problems at present?
How so do we re-connect the industry with the colleges?
What are the main issues and what are the solutions?
What can the manufacturers do to help?
What can the colleges do to help?
How can we market the industry to young people more effectively?
Funding. What are the funding issues and how do we overcome them?
13.00 Summary and Actions. A review of the sessions and the actions we have identified. (Roger Lane-Nott)
13.15 Lunch
14.00 Cranfield. Setting the Scene – Professor Tom Stephenson
14.20 Visits to Cranfield’s specialist departments including Precision Engineering, Welding, Soil dynamics, Materials etc
15.30 AEA Wash Up of the Day
15.45 Tea
16.30 Seminar presented by Dr Abdul Mounem Mouazen of Cranfield University on the subject of:

"New Concepts for the Future of Agricultural Engineering"
The focus will be on the application of new digital technology to optimize field operations. The vision is to combine cutting-edge sensor and system control technology with predictive modelling of the soil-plant-water system at field scales. This might be described as ‘second wave’ precision agriculture. With activities in agricultural engineering, geographical information management and soil and land management.

Published: 8/06/2010