Completed Project Report


Bringing Animal Manure & Mortality Risk Management Classes Alive with Virtual Reality Field Tour Technology

  • Award Amount: $49,622
  • Regional Center: Southern Extension Risk Management Education Center
  • Grant Program: 2019 Education Projects
  • Project Director: Zong Liu
  • Email: zongliu@tamu.edu
  • Organization: Biological & Agricultural Engineering, Texas A&M University

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Project Overview

This project aims to develop risk-based training of manure and mortality management for livestock and poultry producers, using Virtual Reality (VR) field tour education. This effort integrates multiple risks involving livestock and poultry industry regarding waste management, including environmental regulations/liabilities, decision making when considering new production systems, operation safety, human/animal well-being, and employee recruitment/training, which is the best alternative "field events" option during a pandemic. 360-degree virtual site tours, educational materials, and critical information were incorporated into the courses. The immersive VR educational approach requires less time/effort to attend and provides a safer and more engaging way for producers to learn how to avoid risks involving animal manure and carcasses management. Participants learned new technologies and operations without spending time and money visiting facilities in person. The target audience of this project will be Texas livestock and poultry producers. Later, the course can be easily replicated and shared with other states (already adapted by CA, NC, and NY). Our team committed to offer workshops in five existing regional conferences. We estimated ~200 participants will make informed decisions and implement the knowledge learned from this program

Number of Participants: 300

Outcomes

Project Steps

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EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS

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DELIVERY AREA

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