Agriculture students from Austria, Estonia, Germany, and Luxembourg were welcomed to East Anglia to gain "vital" hands-on experience of the latest farming technologies.
The European students and their teachers arrived to share knowledge with apprentices and lecturers from Easton College, outside Norwich.
Their visit included a tour of the Euston Estate near Thetford, where the students were given practical experience of the latest apps, guidance systems, telematics, and digital displays for optimising arable crop production and monitoring machinery performance.
Representatives from three major farm machinery manufacturers - Claas, John Deere and New Holland – demonstrated the technology before giving students the chance to get behind the wheel of their tractors and see the software in action.
Easton College apprentice Jamie Hipperson, who is working towards the Level 3 Crop Technician Apprenticeship Standard, said: “On our farm we only use John Deere, so it’s good to see two other types of tractor, and two other types of technology, working in the same field - so you could compare them side by side.
"It’s definitely useful to be looking at the technology, linking it in with the college work that we do in the classroom, and then going back to work and implementing it at work."
Charles Deltgen, one of the visiting agriculture students from Luxembourg, added: “It is important to know because this is going to grow. There are going to be more and more of these technologies in agriculture.”
With 6,260-acres of farmland, the Euston Estate has a long-standing relationship with Easton College and regularly provides work placements to its agriculture students, as well as to students from the Czech Republic.
Matthew Hawthorne, the estate’s farm manager, said it was vital that young people entering the industry could gain practical experience of modern systems.
“You used to get into a tractor years ago and it was about the engine and the gearbox and the power of it," he said. "Now, it’s about the operation of the terminal.
"To get the tractor to work as it should you’ve got to be able to understand and use the terminal. It’s vital that these youngsters are given the opportunity to get into a tractor and get hands-on experience of using this technology.”
The visit was part of the Digitalis project, an Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, which aims to assist agricultural colleges, teachers and students in adapting to the increasing digitalisation of the sector.
The group also saw real-time digital monitoring of dairy cattle at Abbey Farm Dairy at Binham in north Norfolk, and took part in workshops related to other aspects of digitalisation within agriculture.
Charlie Askew, work-based learning training co-ordinator at Easton College, said: “The theme of Digitalis is to develop new tools in education. There’s no better way than to go out into the industry, which is the end destination for all our students, to see what tools they use and how they use them.
"We want our students to develop those skills whilst they are in education, so they will arrive in industry not just ready to use the kit that they have got, but they are already thinking about ways that they can improve it.”
Mr Hawthorne added: “There are strong places of innovative agriculture all over Europe and a lot of learning that can take place through projects like this.
"Sharing that experience and sharing that knowledge between students of different nationalities is very beneficial.”
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