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Ag industry hopes to grow high-tech workers

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Michigan agriculture is struggling to find qualified workers to fill positions at all levels, and one challenge is informing potential employees that modern agriculture is a high-tech industry in need of people with the right skills, according to the Michigan Agri-Business Association.

At an egg factory, a robot counts how many eggs each chicken has laid. A computer detects the purity of each egg, and checks for cracks.At a dairy farm, a computer calculates how much milk cows can produce each day by recognizing unique IDs on their tags.

And association President Jim Byrum said, “Agriculture is being revolutionized by cutting-edge technology and scientific advancements.”

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Students use social media to gather climate change information

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A group of Central Michigan University students is using social media to gather information on climate change and periodic natural events, in the Great Lakes region. Tom Rohrer, the director of the Great Lakes Institute for Sustainable Systems at Central Michigan University,  and his students created a Facebook page called  “Climate Change in the Great Lakes Basin.”  On the page students post studies, articles, pictures and other observation, which address changing weather patterns. The page is also open for the public to post  their observations, creating a free and vast collection of climate change information. The project stems from a CMU course taught by Rohrer on building sustainability. The idea came during a class discussion on how to influence people do to the right thing for the environment, he said.