The third field trip the class went on was to visit the Hoober store in Middletown Delaware. Brian Lam and Dave Wharry were kind enough to talk with our class and show us around the store! We got to see the selling floor,  the garage where repairs are ongoing, and the back and side yards were different tractors and parts sits until needed.

Our class split up into two groups, one group having the opportunity to drive a tractor and another see a drone in action! For the drone presentation we watched Mr. Wharry program the drone right from his phone and send it off to survey part of the property. He talked about how regulations on drones have changed, and how because of the changes, he hopes that they will become more mainstream for farmers to use. He also told a story about doing some scouting with the drone and it accidentally flying over a man’s property, who was not very happy about it. But after discussing what he was doing, why and how, the mans attitude had gone from hostile to interested and even impressed!

Mr. Lam took students in drives in one of the stores tractors to show us the precision Ag equipment. He had each driver go around different puddles or posts, and then after turning the tractor around had them push a button to activate the auto steer and take their hands off the wheel. It was crazy to be sitting in the cab of a tractor that is driving itself, and along the exact route that we took to get there, around the puddles and posts!

This was a super cool trip to see the technological side of Ag and really see hands on how it’s being used!