This course prepares students to analyze the factors that comprise safe machinery management and operation and to explain the function of various machines and mechanisms. Students will learn machinery operation, farm machinery safety, procedures for diagnosing machinery problems, and processes for making machinery management decisions.
Growth in the Precision Agriculture industry requires the addition of a Farm Machinery Management course which requires that students be trained in the maintenance, management, and operation of agricultural machinery. Sophisticated advancements in technology on agricultural machinery are contributing to the demand for farm machinery mechanics and the skills they can provide. This class will prepare students to enter the workforce with the basic knowledge and understanding to be successful. This course will prepare students for more advanced courses in Agriculture Technology/Mechanics, as well as the Agricultural Systems and Technology degree offered at Utah State University.
Course objectives will be accomplished by providing students with the following learning experiences: machine operation and safety training; machine performance, power performance, and operator performance; use principles of cost determination in depreciation, inflation, interest, and variable costs; identify tillage, cultivation, seeding, chemical application, harvesting, processing, and handling machines; engine principles, mechanisms, power, and maintenance; machinery selection, power selection, and use of machinery.