Agricultural engineering

A modern farm tractor

Agricultural engineering is the engineering discipline that applies engineering science and technology to agricultural production and processing. Agricultural engineering combines the disciplines of animal biology, plant biology, and mechanical, civil, electrical and chemical engineering principles with a knowledge of agricultural principles.^[1]

Subfields

Santa Elisa sugarcane processing plant in Sertãozinho, one of the largest and oldest in Brazil

Some of the specialties of agricultural engineers include:^[2][3]

• design of agricultural machinery, equipment, and agricultural structures
• internal combustion engines as applied to agricultural machinery
• agricultural resource management (including land use and water use)
• water management, conservation, and storage for crop irrigation and livestock production
• surveying and land profiling
• climatology and atmospheric science
• soil management and conservation, including erosion and erosion control
• seeding, tillage, harvesting, and processing of crops
• livestock production, including poultry, fish, and dairy animals
• waste management, including animal waste, agricultural residues, and fertilizer runoff
• food engineering and the processing of agricultural products
• basic principles of electricity, applied to electrical motors
• physical and chemical properties of materials used in, or produced by, agricultural production
• bioresource engineering, which uses machines on the molecular level to help the environment.

History

The first curriculum in Agricultural Engineering was established at Iowa State University by J. B. Davidson in 1905. The American Society of Agricultural Engineers, now known as the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, was founded in 1907.^[4]

Pivot irrigation of cotton

Agricultural engineers

Agricultural engineers may perform tasks as planning, supervising and managing the building of dairy effluent schemes, irrigation, drainage, flood and water control systems, perform environmental impact assessments, agricultural product processing and interpret research results and implement relevant practices. A large percentage of agricultural engineers work in academia or for government agencies such as the United States Department of Agriculture or state agricultural extension services. Some are consultants, employed by private engineering firms, while others work in industry, for manufacturers of agricultural machinery, equipment, processing technology, and structures for housing livestock and storing crops. Agricultural engineers work in production, sales, management, research and development, or applied science.

In the United Kingdom the term Agricultural Engineer is often also used to describe a person that repairs or modifies agricultural equipment.

See also

	Agriculture and Agronomy portal
	Engineering portal

• Bioresource engineering
• Copper alloys in aquaculture
• Industrial agriculture
• List of agricultural machinery
• Mechanized agriculture

References

1. ^ Hills, David (2004). "Agricultural engineering". The Engineering Handbook (2nd ed.). CRC Press. pp. 190-1 - 190-9. ISBN 0-8493-1586-7. 
2. ^ "Agricultural engineering". The McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology (9 ed.). McGraw Hill. pp. 212–213. ISBN 0-07-913665-6. 
3. ^ Field, Harry; Solie, John (2007). Introduction to Agricultural Engineering Technology (3rd ed.). 
4. ^ "ASABE website". Archived from the original on 14 May 2009. http://www.asabe.org/about.html. Retrieved May 15, 2009. 

Further reading

• Brown, R.H. (ed). (1988). CRC handbook of engineering in agriculture. Boca Raton, FL.: CRC Press. ISBN 0-8493-3860-3.
• Field, H. L., Solie, J. B., & Roth, L. O. (2007). Introduction to agricultural engineering technology: a problem solving approach. New York: Springer. ISBN 0-387-36913-9.
• Stewart, Robert E. (1979). Seven decades that changed America: a history of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers, 1907-1977. St. Joseph, Mich.: ASAE. OCLC 5947727.
• DeForest, S. S. (2007). The vision that cut drugery from farming forever. St. Joseph, Mich.: ASAE. ISBN 1-892769-61-1.

External links

At Wikiversity you can learn more and teach others about Agricultural engineering at: The Department of Agricultural engineering

• Agricultural engineering
• Institute of Agricultural Engineering, University of the Philippines Los Baños
• Canadian Society for Bioengineering
• American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Official Site
• International Academic Programs in Agricultural, Food,or Biological Engineering
• International Commission of Agricultural Engineering Official Site
• Department of Bioresource Engineering part of McGill University
• The Institution of Agricultural Engineers