How the New AGCO Training Center at Parkland College Meets the Demand for Skilled Technicians
December 10, 2024 
The new 22,000 square-foot facility is the home of the school’s AGCO Agriculture Service Technician Associate in Applied Science (A.A.S.) degree program, which provides instruction specific to the company’s popular machinery and precision ag technologies.
Labor continues to be a struggle for just about all segments of the agricultural world. In an effort to improve the skills AGCO workers are able to employ, the company sends them to the AGCO Technician Training Center at Parkland College in Champaign, IL
“AGCO’s significant growth across North America has increased the demand for skilled technicians to service and support equipment from its popular brands, including Fendt, Massey Ferguson, and PTx,” says Ash Alt, AGCO Manager for Aftersales Training, North America. “The new AGCO Training Center at Parkland College confirms AGCO’s commitment to delivering on our Farmer First initiative and FarmerCore strategy.”
The training center includes three classrooms and an 18,000-square-foot workshop to serve two different audiences.
Those audiences include “future technicians who are enrolled in the AGCO Service Technician Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S.) and the company’s current dealer technicians, ”who will also be attending AGCO-specific advanced technical training courses at the facility. The AGCO Service Technician program can accept up to 20 students per cohort, with a new cohort starting each year in August. The building and program were designed to accommodate two cohorts with synchronous classroom and hands-on learning exercises in the workshop.”
“The AGCO Service Technician (A.A.S.) program can support up to 40 students simultaneously, while AGCO will also leverage the new facility to support up to 400 current dealer technicians,” Alt continues.
The first cohort began August of 2024 and will graduate in May 2026.
“Students are eligible for graduation upon successful completion of 63 credit hours,” Alt says. “This program is a registered apprenticeship with the U.S. Department of Labor which incorporates work-based learning and two summer internships.”
Like any post-high school program there is a cost to participate, but many students receive subsidies from a variety of sources.
“Tuition for the entire program is $20,823 – which includes course fees, books and materials,” Alt says. “Students are sponsored by AGCO dealers who can offer various incentive packages, including tuition reimbursement, scholarships, tool allowances and guaranteed jobs upon graduation. The new AGCO Service Technician Degree Program curriculum focuses solely on AGCO brands of equipment, including Fendt, Massey Ferguson, and PTx and their components. Students will learn the theory of operation (engines, transmissions, powertrains, electrical, hydraulic, etc.), as well as AGCO diagnostic service tools and software.”
According to Alt, the AGCO Service Technician A.A.S. Degree program is a registered apprenticeship with the U.S. Department of Labor, which incorporates work-based learning and two summer internships.
The state-of-the-art technical training center is filled with immersive hands-on training aids and cutting-edge equipment from AGCO’s popular brands, including Fendt, Massey Ferguson, and PTx,
“Students are sponsored by dealers who can offer various incentive packages including tuition reimbursement, scholarships, tool allowances, and a guaranteed job upon graduation,” Alt says. “This model allows a student to earn-while-they-learn by working at a dealership throughout the program and graduate with little to no debt. Dealerships will establish their own requirements for work commitments from the student upon graduation.
“The program only accepts students who are sponsored by an AGCO Dealer,” Alt says. “This model encourages the student and dealer to establish a relationship and work commitment before classes start or any debt is incurred.”
For those interested in expanding their ag skills, the program “focuses on anyone who has a passion or interest in helping support farmers feed the world,” Alt says. “Traditionally, this type of program attracts recent high school graduates who have not yet entered the workforce and military veterans who are looking to start their civilian careers.
“AGCO is committed to delivering on its Farmer First initiative and FarmerCore strategy by investing $5 million in a state-of-the-art technical training center that is filled with immersive hands-on training aids and cutting-edge equipment and delivers practical work-based curriculum to current and future ag technicians,” Alt says.
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