Fletcher Technical Community College breaks ground on new Precision Agriculture and Advanced Manufacturing Center

Earlier today, officials at Fletcher Technical Community College hosted a groundbreaking ceremony celebrating their school’s brand-new Precision Agriculture and Advanced Manufacturing Center. (Read more about what precision agriculture is here).

“We are blessed that Fletcher is entering this new season of growth,” said Dr. Kristine Strickland, chancellor of Fletcher Technical Community College. “We are seeing growth in our facilities, growth in our programs that lead to high-salary jobs, and growth in the number of individuals we are able to serve, with this fall semester seeing our highest student enrollment numbers in the past decade. Today is truly a celebration, because we know these facilities are so important to success.”

The new Precision Agriculture and Advanced Manufacturing Center will house programs that will bring state-of-the-art agricultural education to the region, as well as supporting programs such as Automotive Technology, Machine Tool Technology, Marine Diesel Engine Technician Logistics, and Drafting and Design Technology.

“We know the impact of the agricultural industry is significant, and in 2019, Senator Bret Allain told us that we have to erase the gap between what technology can do and what our students can do– students need to know how to use this new agricultural technology, and it is our job to provide programs to teach them,” said Dr. Kim Hunter-Reed, Louisiana’s Commissioner of Higher Education-Board of Regents. “We began meeting with individuals from the precision agriculture industry, asking how are we going to ensure farmers have what they need, how are we going to make sure that our young people are filling these jobs, and how they will get the education they need to understand precision agriculture. We knew specialized training was necessary, and that meant we needed program and facilities like this one coming to Fletcher.”

“It’s not always easy to get academia to understand the real-world needs out there, and Dr. Hunter-Reed and Dr. Strickland absolutely were able to understand what our need is,” said Senator for District 21 Bret Allain. “At a time where technology was exploding in the agricultural industry to make this country more productive, we were not teaching precision agriculture here in this state– that is where the gap was. We are now where we need to be because these educators listened to what was needed and acted.”

Guest speakers alongside Dr. Hunter-Reed and Senator Allain included Senator for District 20  Mike “Big Mike” Fesi, House Representative for District 52 Jerome “Zee” Zeringue, Terrebonne Parish President Gordon E. Dove, and General Manager of Barker Automotive Group and Fletcher Foundation Board Member Chris Barker, who all expressed their support for this program which will help bring more employment opportunities and more to young workers in the area.

For more information about Fletcher Technical Community College’s upcoming Precision Agriculture and Advanced Manufacturing Center, please visit their Facebook, website, or call (985) 448-7900.