INA, Ill. (January 26, 2023) — Rend Lake College is excited to announce Blake Patton as the Director of the new Agronomy Innovation Center and Land Lab Supervisor at the Ina campus.
Blake brings a wealth of experience and education to the position, including an Associates in Applied Science from Rend Lake College, a Bachelor's of Science in Plant and Soil Science with Ag Systems and Technology from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, and a Masters Degree in Crop Science specializing in Weed Science from the University of Kentucky. He has also worked as a research and teaching assistant in the Weed Science Department, held a research internship with Syngenta, worked in the greenhouses at SIU, and worked for Syngenta for four years.
In addition to his education and experience, Blake is also the inventor of Set-N-Seed, an agricultural planter depth calibration block that helps farmers locate and calibrate their seeding depth to a known and consistent depth.
Despite his many accomplishments, Blake considers his greatest achievement to be his role as a loving husband to his wife Ericka Patton, and a devoted father to his children Easton and Eli Patton, as well as step-father to Noah and Eli Niedbalski.
In his role as Director of the Agronomy Innovation Center, Blake will coordinate and facilitate educational trainings for both students and industry, create and maintain partnerships with schools and the agriculture industry to expand Rend Lake College's footprint and bring new technology to the surrounding community, and supervise the Land Lab, maintaining research plots and land for equipment and technology training.
Blake's goals as Director of the Agronomy Innovation Center and Land Lab Supervisor include creating well-trained and confident students who are well-prepared and focused on their future in agriculture, building strong relationships with agriculture industry leading partnerships, and increasing student enrollment and retention by providing state-of-the-art technology and trainings to better serve their future employment needs.
Rend Lake College is confident that Blake will be a valuable asset to the college community and we look forward to working with him to achieve his goals.