Blue Mountain Community College has received a donation of four Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) drones and associated equipment valued at $260,000 from Digital Harvest of Camas, Wash.
The donation will support UAS courses in BMCC’s agriculture program, as well as the development of BMCC’s new UAS program.
Digital Harvest, which applies remote sensing and data science techniques to solve large-scale problems in agriculture, made the donation to the college last week in coordination with Business Oregon, the state’s economic development agency. The donation includes two multi-rotor Leptron Avenger helicopter drones and two fixed-wing Martin UAV Superbat drones, valued at $50,000 each. In addition, Digital Harvest donated a ground control system and four Piccalo autopilots that integrate into each drone.
“This donation from Digital Harvest raises the bar for the development of our UAS program,” said Wade Muller, Dean of Career-Technical & Community Education at BMCC. “The use of these drones will allow our students to receive relevant and valuable hands-on training to prepare them for a career in agriculture, UAS operations and other in-demand regional opportunities. We are so appreciative to Digital Harvest and Business Oregon for partnering with the college to support our students in such a generous manner.”
BMCC currently offers courses in UAS for agriculture as part of the Precision Agriculture program, and is in the development phase of a full UAS program in coordination with local industry.
