The Farm and Industry Short Course was a long time program held on the UW-Madison campus. Short Course was a 2 year program that prepared students who wanted to work in production agriculture. Due to recent changes, the program is now being offered on the UW-River Falls campus.
While the location has changed, the program will still remain rooted in tradition and UW-Madison will maintain involvement with the program. Heather Gayton is the Outreach Program Manager for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences which is a new position. Part of her work in this role will be supporting the revamped short course program.
Their involvement will take a variety of forms with a mix of in-person and online education. Use of the research facilities will be incorporated with different events for students. The goal is to still provide the necessary education Short Course always provided. “It’s going to be whatever skills or certain things that are needed on those farms – we can meet those needs,” said Gayton.
January 16-19 there will be a 4 day workshop for Short Course students. The focus will be on the dairy research that takes place at UW-Madison. Gayton sees this as an opportunity to highlight what Madison has to offer and maybe even encourage students to continue their education past Short Course.
In her role, Gayton is also creating educational opportunities for farmers to address rural opportunity gaps. An upcoming course will provide education for farmers on irrigation electrical components. Another will be focus on Spanish for dairy. They are also looking at creating several courses focused on organic agriculture.
“We’re looking at what are those needs – what are the needs and where are those gaps, the holes in professional development,” said Gayton. She notes that it is important for education to change and evolve with the industry to better prepare working professionals.
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