Agricultural engineers solve problems in their field by
taking elements from mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, civil
engineering, and chemical engineering and applying them toward agriculture problems.
Many times agricultural engineering is combined with biosystems engineering to
give graduates an even better understanding of agriculture as a whole. The
problems faced by agricultural engineers are some of the biggest problems
facing our country and planet.
There are many different paths an agricultural engineer may
take. The variety of work an agricultural engineer may face is endless. They are
involved in solving problems from any and all types of living systems and processing
products from natural and biological resources.
Agricultural engineering according to the Merriam-Webster definition
is: the branch of engineering that deals with the design of farm machinery, the
location and planning of farm structures, farm drainage, soil management and erosion
control, water supply and irrigation, rural electrification, and the processing
of farm products.
One path an agricultural engineer may take is the growing
and processing of biofuels. As petroleum products continue to be used and
depleted, alternate fuels gain more and more attention. Biofuels from plants
and animals are continually researched by agricultural engineers in order to develop
a process that produces fuel efficiently and readily while keeping the cost
down.
One of the biggest problems that agricultural engineers face
is feeding the planet. From the field to the processing of the food,
agricultural engineers are involved in bettering the efficiency and maximizing
food production in order to feed a growing population. The involvement of
agricultural engineers in feeding the world is nearly limitless, but one way
they get involved is designing equipment to plant, maintain, and harvest
agricultural plant products. The product then needs to be stored. Proper and
efficient storage facilities are also designed by agricultural engineers to
ensure the product is ready for processing. After the plants are harvested and stored,
they design the process plants that process the agricultural products. The
products from plants aren't limited to just food, the products we gain from
plants is endless and continually researched.
By SSGT Scott Stewart [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Plant production is just one way they help feed the
population. They are also behind the developing of livestock facilities, such
as dairies. All of these processes produce some sort of waste, which
agricultural engineers are also involved. The proper disposal of agriculture
waste is extremely important, not only because of the harmful effects of
improper disposal, but because of the usefulness agricultural waste possesses
in the areas of fertilizing or production of energy. Other forms of waste
management include dealing with runoff of products put on fields such as
pesticides and nitrogen.
Yet another important field that agricultural engineers are
involved in is water and land management. They help determine the best and most
efficient ways to manage the land and water in an area to help avoid a crisis,
all while balancing conservation and maximizing the use of the land and water. This
can involve erosion control and irrigation methods.
This only scratched the surface of the importance of
agricultural engineers. As the importance of agriculture grows, the jobs of
agricultural engineers grow as well.
This blog post was very helpful in understanding the profession of agricultural engineering, which I did not know much about before. Stating in your opening sentence that your profession uses ideas from the other main engineering professions caught my attention as a mechanical engineering student. I also was intrigued by the statement in the opening paragraph that your profession deals with “some of the biggest problems facing our country and planet,” and I would definitely agree with that statement after reading this post. It is obvious that we need food to support our growing population on earth, and figuring out how to produce crops more efficiently is a very important job. With all of the different facets of farming for which efficiency could be improved, and the size of the industry, it seems like the demand for agricultural engineers should be very high.
ReplyDeleteI never would have thought about waste management being a part of agricultural engineering, but it makes sense, since I have heard of disasters involving improper management of animal waste on farms. I can see how engineering principles could be applied to this area, and having engineers around in this industry seems like a very good idea since, as you mentioned, they can also design methods to not just dispose of waste, but to reuse it.
As a civil engineering major, I take several classes with other engineering majors. Most of my friends are, in fact, agricultural engineering majors. I have heard some of them talk about their agricultural engineering, but I’ve never quite gotten the whole picture. All I really knew was that my friends in agricultural engineering worked with tractors sometimes.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that agricultural engineering has sub fields, similar to the field of civil engineering. Only with agricultural engineering, these sub fields are vaster than the sub fields of civil engineering. Agricultural engineers, as you mentioned, can emphasize in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, civil engineering, chemical engineering, or bio systems engineering. I found this very interesting. I didn’t know there were so many paths agricultural engineering students could take.
The jobs you described in the field of agricultural engineering were all very important and I can see how it’s absolutely necessary to agricultural engineers out there. The growing population and food supply is a very big issue that is only getting worse. I think it’s really interesting how so many of the sub fields of agricultural engineering come into play when combating this issue.
In addition to the population issue, there is the growing issue of greenhouse gasses and making sure our environment is clean. I look forward to seeing the alternative fuels that agricultural engineers produce in the future.
Agricultural engineers play a huge role in society that I hadn’t realized before. I found this entry very informative and interesting.
I have a newfound respect for the agricultural engineering field and everything that it entails. Coming from computer science, most of my knowledge and experience deals with computers and technology, so it’s great to see deeper into another field of specialization so far from my own. I don’t even really know anyone that’s going to NDSU for some kind of agriculture science, so the most I’ve heard is that there’s a class on soil. Being unreasonably judgmental I had thought to myself at the time, “oh man, a class on dirt? Wow”. But in hindsight it was wrong to judge so quickly. I knew a tremendous amount of work went into it, but I wasn’t aware of how varied and specialized an agricultural engineer could be! I had no idea how general and all encompassing this major was! For most students, choosing your major is one of the hardest decisions they have to make. But for an agriculture engineer such as yourself, it looks like that decision just opens a whole another can of worms. How des an agriculture engineer student at NDSU choose their specialization? Do you learn everything or are there specialization tracks you must choose and follow? Great information thanks!
ReplyDeleteThere are elective classes that you choose from for more special interests. We do learn some aspects of the different tracks so the student can go what ever way they please after they graduate. The real specialization comes when you actually get a job similar to computer science majors choosing what type of software company they will work with.
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