Heartland building ag program

NORMAL, Ill. — Construction of Heartland Community College’s new agriculture complex is well underway with completion anticipated this fall and open for classes in the spring of 2024.

The 29,500-square-foot complex, located just west of the HCC campus, will include a 6,000-square-foot ag lab with roll-up doors for staging farm equipment, animals and drones for instruction.

It also will include a plant and soil lab, precision ag lab, additional classroom space and a 2,300-square-foot greenhouse with three climate zones.

The new building is designed to be a net-zero facility featuring a super-insulated building envelope, energy-efficient mechanical systems, geothermal system, radiant heating and cooling floors, and rooftop photovoltaics.

Miranda Buss, HCC assistant professor and agriculture program coordinator, said the building also can host FFA, 4-H and other youth programs, conferences and other community events.

The agriculture complex construction is a major step in ramping up Heartland’s young ag program that began in 2015 and taking it to the next level. The college’s decision to invest in the facility was demand-based.

“We did some studies that found there were more ag-related jobs posted in Illinois than available applicants. There’s an ag need. Heartland is the youngest community college in the state and is located where some of the richest soil in the world is at,” Buss said.

“We really didn’t have an ag program when I started about three and a half years ago. They just had a few transfer classes for agriculture. There’s a need for it. Our ag enrollment numbers have been fairly steady. We pull students in from our district, but we also have some from northern Illinois, other areas of central Illinois, southern Illinois, and we have a handful that are from out-of-state.

“We’re trying to grow enrollment numbers and the ag demand is there. There are a lot of ag jobs that are open. There’s a lot of the ag workforce that are planning to retire in the next 10 years and there’s not enough to fill all of those positions. So, we’re trying to figure out how do we get that because there aren’t as many on the farm. So, how do we tap into some urban populations?

“The demand is growing in general in our region, so we’re trying get students involved. We’ve been working with a lot of industry partners that are needing employees. They are providing some scholarship opportunities.”

Expanding Opportunities

Along with the brick-and-mortar addition that’s in the works, Heartland also has ramped up its program offers to meet the demand.

When the agriculture program initially began, it was offered as part of the school’s associate in applied science degree. The college has since added four work-ready certificate programs in 2021 and will add one more in the fall.

“Those are one-year programs with between 14 and 19 credit hours. Students can get those within a year and if they want to take longer they can. The certificates are in agriculture business, agronomy, precision agriculture, regenerative agriculture, and the new one beginning this fall is in cannabis cultivation,” Buss said.

The Agriculture Business Certificate is designed for students who have an interest in the accounting, economics, marketing, or management side of agribusiness.

The Agronomy Certificate is designed for students who have an interest in field crop production and soil science. Students will learn basics of agronomy, identify and manage weeds, insects and plant diseases, and make soil management decisions related to fertility, degradation and tillage.

The Regenerative Agriculture Certificate is designed to for students who have an interest in organic, locally sourced products and principles.

The Precision Agriculture Certificate is designed for students who have an interest in agriculture technology and want to change agriculture management through data.

Students will build foundational knowledge in GIS/GPS, remote sensing, variable rate technology and collecting, interpreting and making management decisions with data.

The new Cannabis Cultivation Certificate will prepare students with an understanding of the growth cycle of cannabis and introduces students to innovative cultivation methods that maximize quality and efficiency with a focus on indoor growing operations.

“We were the first community college in the state with a regenerative ag program. We were one of the first to do the stackable certificates. For example, if you wanted regenerative ag and agronomy, you can basically stack those two and take a few other classes to get the two-year associate in applied science degree,” Buss said.

“So, when a student walks out of here with that AAS degree, they usually have two or three certificates underneath it, too. Those certificates may not even be in the ag program if they don’t want it to be. You can make your program yours, as long as it makes sense.”

Degree Paths

Heartland also offers two two-year degree paths, one for the students planning to transfer to a four-year school and the other for students who want to begin a career after completion.

The associate in arts degree with an agriculture concentration is for students planning to transfer to a four-year school upon completion.

“It is 60 credit hours. The majority of those are the those transfer-minded classes here — biology, chemistry, math, English, communications, you name it. A smaller subset of other classes are in agriculture classes. We have six transfer ag classes they can choose from and then move on to a four-year university,” Buss said.

The two-year associate in applied science degree in agriculture initially began when the certificates program was rolled out. It is designed for student choosing to begin their careers after completion and not go on to a four-year institution.

“It is also 60 credit hours, but it’s kind of a flip from the associate in arts degree. The majority of their classes are agriculture-based, and a handful are English, math, communications and things of that nature. There are four or five that we would consider general education classes. The state requires that they take so many of those for a two-year degree. About 60% of those credits are transferable to a four-year school, depending on what the students choose,” Buss noted.

Upcoming

Plans are in the works for Heartland to launch a communications class this fall.

“It would be out of our liberal arts and sciences program and is an ag-focused introduction to communications. We’re exploring the idea for an English class with everything ag-focused, as well. We’re trying to get more ag in non-ag classes, too,” she said.

The college will provide additional opportunities in the near future for agriculture students.

“We are starting an agriculture study-abroad program in South Africa that begins January 2024. We’re looking to potentially expand it and let other schools join us. That will be exciting to go and compare agriculture in Illinois and South Africa and how that looks different,” Buss noted.