Precision Ag Boost

Doors open wide for research, collaboration at Raven Precision Agriculture Center

Two years in the construction and four years in the planning, the long-anticipated dream of having a state-of-the-art precision ag center on the campus of the state’s first land-grant university became reality in early August when faculty moved in and instruction began Aug. 23.

Raven Precision Agriculture Center was officially dedicated Sept. 11 with a public open house followed by the Precision Ag Bowl football game that evening.

The $46.1 million facility puts the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering from the Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering and Department of Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Science from the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences under one large roof on the northwest corner of campus.

At 122,694 square feet, the facility has a footprint of 2.8 acres, but the farming on this parcel will be a cultivation of next-generation know-how.

“We have created an ecosystem for student learning and research, stressing creativity and innovation,” David Wright, head of agronomy, horticulture and plant science, said. “We’ve comingled ag engineering and agriculture. On each side of the plant science faculty member there is an ag engineer’s office. 

“We’ve intentionally created that environment for people to interact professionally and socially. When you bring people together, they are more creative than they are separately.”

Interdepartmental shoulder rubbing

Jiyul Chang ’97 M.S./Ph.D. ’02, a lecturer in agronomy, horticulture and plant science, said, “Faculty and students in the two departments must communicate with each other easily. However, when the two departments were in different buildings we had some difficulties in fast communications. After the move to Raven Precision Ag Center, we can work together very easily.” 

On the west end of both floors of the center there are suites of 20 offices. In addition, on the second floor there is cubicle office space for 52 ag engineering graduate students. Offices for plant science graduate students are conveniently located next to the first-floor labs where they will be assisting in undergraduate education.

For as attractive and functional as these offices may be, those weren’t what created oohs and ahs when the public took the open house tours.

Big bays for power equipment

Among the major attractions is the high bay lab, where full-scale equipment can be brought in for study and testing. The 65-by-65-foot room has a 28-foot wide bi-fold door to drive in a tractor or a combine and a three-ton bridge crane to do the heavy lifting.

Nic Uilk ’08/M.Ed. ’11, an instructor in agricultural and biosystems engineering, said, “I am very excited to have the ability to bring full-size equipment into the building to be able to do hands-on labs with modern equipment.”

Next door is the mid-bay lab. Though smaller (2,772 square feet versus 4,245 square feet), it features chassis and PTO dynamometers rated at 300 horsepower and a five-ton bridge crane. The $250,000 dynamometers allow for vehicle performance testing without leaving the shop, equipment you might expect to be at a vehicle manufacturer’s testing lab.

Van Kelley, head of the Department of agricultural and biosystems engineering, said, “Any engineering student studying power systems wants to understand performance. A vehicle can operate at full power on the dynamometer, just as if it was on the road. This would be useful in studying alternative power sources or fuels or to compare the performance of an electric or diesel-powered vehicle.

“A major part of power systems studies is understanding power losses going through transmissions. Previously, all we could do was look at a picture in a book.”

Student to have role in lab setup

Ty Grone, a senior in the department, will be doing an independent study project this year with instructor Doug Prairie ’97 on the chassis dyno to develop new teaching and lab exercises for it.

Grone said, “This will create a greater experience for the Power and Machinery Dyno Lab with the ability to be more hands on with the machine as well as seeing and running an actual piece of equipment to see how it can be loaded down to calculate horsepower. I feel confident that this new lab will not only help open doors for incoming students but help the department create new ties within the agricultural world.” 

Prairie, whose courseload includes classes in design and management of ag machinery systems, said he is looking forward to working in state-of-the-art shop and lab facilities.

Other vocational spaces are a fabrication bay, a wood shop and a quarter-scale tractor lab. The Quarter-Scale Tractor Club, within ag and biosystems engineering, won the national title in 2018 and was runner-up in 2019. Previously, students built their 31-horsepower creation in a corner of the Ag Engineering fabrication shop. Club adviser Prairie said students are excited to have their own dedicated work area.

Hub for campus’ ag sector

SDSU is the only school in the nation to have a precision ag major and minor. There are 94 students majoring in precision ag with another 100 getting a minor. In addition, there are 180 agronomy and horticulture majors and 77 ag engineering majors. There are 15 classrooms and class labs with a total of 525 student seats.

Kelley said some of the classrooms could be used as general classrooms, so the ag center will serve an even larger segment of the SDSU population.

But make no mistake, Raven Precision Agriculture Center is designed to be a hub of campus ag activity. Located at North Campus Drive and Medary Avenue in the northwest sector of campus, it’s just south of the Animal Science Center and the Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Lab, just west of the McFadden Biostress Lab and north of the Davis Dairy Plant.

“This will be a hub of student learning and activity. We wanted a very comfortable environment for the student and very intentional  space to enhance student learning,” Wright said.

Kelley added, “This building by far has the most area for students to hang out after classes.”

Students can study, socialize or scribble project ideas on whiteboards in one of 22 collaborative areas. Many are in the atrium, which serves as the main east-west corridor and lets in an abundance of natural light, keeping interior rooms from being totally dark when lights aren’t on. The focus on natural light is consistent throughout the building.

Colin Gaalswyk ’94/M.S. ’00, senior mechanical engineer at SDSU’s Facilities and Services, said the center is designed and constructed to meet silver designation by the Leadership in Energy Environmental Design.

Ecosystem for learning, research

However, planners went beyond big and bright in developing State’s newest academic building.

Wright said, “It’s the intention of the facility that makes it unique. We want to place our students on the leading edge of precision ag. We combined ag engineering faculty with plant science and agronomy faculty to stimulate innovation. We wanted to create an ecosystem for student learning and collaborative research.  

“There are a lot of precision tools out there, and they’re rapidly emerging. Precision ag is the coupling of those precision tools with the knowledge of how to best utilize them so growers can increase profitability. It’s the knowledge behind the technology and how do you use it to produce the best results for growers.”

This intentionality hasn’t escaped the attention of students.

Parker Aase, a senior precision ag major from Owatonna, Minnesota, said he looks forward to “having the ability to do different tests that we would not have been able to do before as well as having more open area to collaborate between departments as we will now have agronomy in the same building. 

“Also, just getting to say that I am having class in the newest building on campus is a great feeling!”

– Dave Graves