Our classes latest field trip brought us to Hoober Inc. in Middletown Delaware.  Hoober’s is an agricultural mechanics business originating from southeast Pennsylvania. From successful business management to adaptability, Hoober’s has been a thriving enterprise. The company has been able to expand to many different locations throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.

Our tour began by going through the mechanic’s garage. Here, the technicians at Hoober provide maintenance and guidance to the owners of various types of machinery. The expertise these workers have is so invaluable to agricultural producers and is crucial to the success of the industry. We then moved to the yard where a variety of tractors, combines, combine heads, and sprayers were on display. These technologies have come such a long way within the past few decades. Farmers now have significant control over what and how the treat their fields due to the innovations of agricultural engineers.

Finally, we got to get our hands on some pieces of precision agriculture. One of our tour guides brought in a drone and flew it for us. The resolution of the picture, accuracy of the flight pattern, and responsiveness to direction from the drone were astounding. The implications this technology could have on agriculture, from crop scouting to pesticide application, is just incredible. Then the students had the opportunity to drive a tractor or a sprayer. Both machines had self driving capabilities. Though it was nerve-wrecking at first, the vehicles were able to drive by themselves along a line created using GPS technology. This innovation allows farmers to be much more precise and limit human error in the planting or harvesting processes.