Agricultural engineering professionals help with feeding the exploding world population

As the world population is exploding, increasing pressure is placed on the agricultural sector to provide sufficient amounts of food. Agricultural engineering professionals help with achieving this very basic need whilst considering the environment by applying mechanical, civil, electrical and chemical engineering science and technology to agricultural production and processing such as:

• the design of agricultural machinery, equipment, and agricultural structures;
• crop production, including seeding, tillage, irrigation and the conservation of soil and water;
• animal production, including the care and processing of poultry and fish and dairy management;
• the processing of food and other agricultural and bio-renewable products and food engineering;
• Bioresource engineering, which uses machines on the molecular level to help the environment.

Agricultural Engineers also plan, supervise and manage the building of dairy effluent schemes, irrigation, drainage, flood and water control systems, perform environmental impact assessments, process agricultural products, interpret research results and implement relevant practices.

A large percentage of agricultural engineers work in academia or for government agencies. 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.