"We download this onto here," Wallin said while looking at a Chromebook. "It's gonna take a minute."
Then the sensor began to play music.
"It plays music when it's thirsty. That's what the original code is for," Wallin said.
The sensors detect varying issues with plant and soil health.
"They would let us know, 'Hey, we need moisture in our soil,'" Running said.
The pair used the sensors to collect soil data such as pH level, light conditions and moisture levels for three days, which was analyzed to gauge growth conditions.
Wallin and Running were two of the students who showed off their sensors during plant and soil science class taught by ag science teacher Jeanna Burgan. Students in the class are learning precision agricultural tech skills as part of the FarmBeats for Students program, developed in partnership with the National FFA and Microsoft.
The class uses FarmBeats for Students materials to give students a deeper understanding of crop outcomes. The initiative integrates Al and machine learning into agriculture education.
FARMBEATS FOR STUDENTS
Students assemble a plant monitoring kit with a micro:bit equipped with environmental sensors and use MakeCode to gather information about the health of their crops, analyze sensor data and construct a system that can react to environmental conditions.
They learn to analyze big data and use AI for analysis.
Working with K-12 teachers, the program has reached 16 schools and 425 students across the state, including those in Burgan's class in Chippewa Falls.
Microsoft provided the FarmBeats curriculum which Burgan tailored to her students.
Burgan said she anticipated the coding part of the FarmBeats process would be hard for students, but found that was not the case.
"I've never written code for anything. But … the code part was never these students' problem," Burgan said. "What I thought was going to be the biggest challenge was actually the easiest part for them. It was the hardest part for me, whereas I understood the plant application part."
Cheri Bortleson, Excel program manager, works with schools to implement the FarmBeats for Students program through Microsoft.
"The essence of FarmBeats is really taking ag industry technology and innovation that exists today and then thinking about how we break that down and introduce that to students in the classroom," Bortleson said.
FarmBeats is being used across disciplines such as horticulture, agriculture, biology, computer science and even social studies because of its applicability across different concepts.
NEXT GENERATION OF AG
As farms become more reliant upon new tools such as sensors, AI and computer vision, FFA and Microsoft are working to train local talent and help students gain access to agricultural jobs.
For Burgan's students, work begins in the classrooms where they learn how the technology works — a skill that is directly transferable to local farms and fields.
"What we're seeing is integration of some types of technology across both smalland large-scale farms," Bortleson said. "While a large-scale farm may be implementing, say, drone technology, robots, satellites … small-scale farms might be using sensors that are put right into the soil and collecting some data and information there, or gaining some insights into the health of the plant and looking at nutrients."
Burgan teaches students all about food technology and plant health. Some of them are already part of working farms in the area.
Ryan Schutte said he liked learning about new technologies for farming. He's an avid drone pilot who sees the ways drones and sensors work in tandem to help farming operations.
Schutte began working with drones a few years ago. Over the summer he got a job at Wisconsin Farm Technology Days in Cadott, which helped solidify his interests. He also works on a farm, he said.
Burgan's class taught him about the growth stages of the plant starting from the seed.
"We learned the different parts of the seed, and then we started learning about the different parts of the plant and the growth stages of plants. And then we moved towards the soil side of it — what different nutrients does the soil hold? And how much does it hold?" he said. "Our last unit is on weeds."
For a final project on weed management, Schutte presented on the use of drones in agriculture applications.
Using drones for weed management is practical for smaller farmers and not limited to large operations, he said. He believes investing in drone technology, including equipment, training and licensing will pay off.
Drones may be used to spread fertilizer, pesticides and more.
"A lot of the time the farmers are paying a co-op to come in with a ground rig, which costs thousands of dollars. If you get a drone, or if the smaller farmers utilize a drone, they can pay back the money they would have (spent) if they would have paid a co-op," he said.
Schutte is using the soil class as a transfer for credit to Chippewa Valley Technical College where he intends to study ground management after he graduates high school.
The integration of the data gathered from sensors on the ground with advanced systems that track satellite and real-time weather data is sophisticated, cutting-edge technology, Bortleson said.
"We have tools now that can really be insightful and inspiring for students to learn … helping prepare them for the advances in the world that's happening all around us and to see opportunity within the agriculture industry that's right in their county; right in their state," Bortleson said. "Agriculture has always been an industry of innovation."
©2025 the La Crosse Tribune (La Crosse, Wis.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
