Learning at ECC is Getting More “Down to Earth”

(l-r) Bono Kim, LS Tractor USA’s director of product management; Johnica Ellis-Kiser, program chair at Edgecombe Community College; Dr. Greg McLeod, ECC president; Chai Ho Shin, LS Mtron president and CEO; Melissa Mabie, instructor, agribusiness technology and Michael Starling, dean of technical and continuing education

Students in ECC’s Agribusiness Technology program are taking lessons on and around a new tractor — the program’s first – which was presented to the college by LS Tractor, an international farm equipment manufacturer and retailer.

The company’s American division, LS Tractor USA, donated the blue MT2E series tractor in May as it dedicated its new parts warehouse at its facilities in Gold Rock. Nash Community College also received a tractor for its agriculture programs.

ECC and NCC provided technical support to LS Tractor USA in developing and pilot-testing the MT2E series. ECC students and instructors put in more than 100 hours testing the tractor, according to Dr. Johnica Ellis-Kiser, program chair of business administration at the college. At ECC’s new garden area in Tarboro, they tested the backhoe, front-end loader, the tractor’s ability to pull disk and rotary tillers, and assessed its design and “creature comforts,” Ellis-Kiser said.

“We filled out daily surveys on all aspects of the tractor, including things we liked and didn’t like,” she added. The results were submitted to LS Tractor USA developers and incorporated into the new line’s design.

ECC’s agribusiness technology program runs year-round and currently has 19 students. It imparts the entrepreneurial and technical skills required to run an environmentally sound and community-based agricultural business. It offers degrees and diplomas in agribusiness tech, along with certificates in agriculture, animal science, horticulture and management.

“The objective is the development of a workforce knowledgeable in sustainable agriculture practices,” Ellis-Kiser said, and having the tractor is a potent boost to that, she said.

“Our program focuses on hands-on learning,” she said. “Having the tractor will allow us to train the students who come here on the equipment they will be using, unlike any program in our area. We hope that will encourage students to come to Edgecombe.”

At its new campus home, the tractor is being utilized to dig in on multiple tasks. Students are learning to drive and maintain it, and are getting first-hand experience in the applications it can perform. “We used it to dig up the garden area and remove some very large rocks that had been found there,” Ellis-Kiser said. “After that, we have mainly used it for disking and rotary tilling.”

Once the garden is fully established, it will yield vegetables and flowers, Ellis-Kiser said.

The tractor is also being used in ECC’s Agriculture Mechanization class, where the students have learned how to operate and perform maintenance on it.

A new MT2E series tractor would have cost ECC about $25,000 had it been left to purchase one out of pocket, Ellis-Kiser said. “As a small rural community college, it is difficult to find funds to make such large purchases,” she added.

ECC instructor Melissa Mabie called the tractor “a wonderful addition to our Agribusiness Technology program. It has given many different classes the opportunity to elevate skills through hands-on practice that they wouldn’t have outside of the classroom. … The tractor allows students to have confidence in their skills and be more prepared for a career in agriculture upon graduation, regardless of their background. I couldn’t be more grateful to LS Tractor for their support.”

Student Jeremy Catagnus added, “The tractor that was donated to the ECC ag business program really helped us students, not only showing us how to till soil and operate ag equipment, but also how to do it ourselves. The tractor was not too complicated for us to operate, and using it in our large garden was a fun and pleasant experience.”

Ellis-Kiser says she’s hopeful for future collaborations with LS Tractor USA, including tours of its facilities and work-based student internships.

April Morgan, communications and marketing specialist for LS Tractor USA, confirmed the company is interested in “enhancing cooperation and partnership” with ECC, noting that “We are still in the early stages of what this enhanced cooperation will look like moving forward.”

For now, “The horsepower, creature comforts, and the ease of operation of the tractor are exceptional,” Ellis-Kiser said. “Thank you so much, LS Tractor!”