By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Plans are still coming along for the construction of a 14,000-square-foot Ag Technology Center at Barton Community College. The college
intends to create a 50-credit hour Top Tech Program in the fall of 2023 that
will provide training to become technicians for Case New Holland (CNH).
The partnership with CNH and Barton started in 1995 where the college provides
training to currently employed technicians.
Barton Executive Director of Workforce Training Mary Foley said technicians come to Great Bend from all over the United States and beyond.
"The majority of our technicians come from the Midwest," said Foley. "41% come from Kansas, 16% from Nebraska and 11% from Missouri. There will be technicians from all over the country. We've actually had technicians come in from Jamaica and Australia."
The new program will help students get their careers started. Preliminary renderings of the new facility were shown to the Board of Trustees at their Tuesday study session.
The new facility will also be used for agriculture business management, crop protection, beef cattle production and the college’s Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) programs.
Barton received a $1.8 million grant from the Kansas Board of Regents to help
construct the $3.6 million facility on the east side of campus. The grant
requires a local match.
Barton hopes to open the program to 16 students.