Agriculture Engineering Overview
HAIL TODAY’S LITERATI AGRONOMISTS! Gone are the days when the untrained tillers, with a wooden plough in hand, used to depend entirely on the rain-gods to shower them with blessings of the much-awaited seasonal rainfall. Now with so many cultivated minds in tow, no wonder our farming fraternity has made such a headway in the agricultural sector and this development has led to the emergence of agriculture engineering.
Agriculture engineering is a branch of engineering that creates new technology for agricultural systems and products. This includes designing and providing the layouts of farming equipments such as irrigation systems, tractors, and buildings. It also includes food processing and experimenting with farming techniques. Agriculture engineers are involved with every aspect of our food supply.
Agriculture engineering provides an advanced interdisciplinary and holistic understanding of the scientific principles and technical skills required to analyse the varied farming techniques in relation to soils, ecology and environmental systems and to assess their sustainability in the context of social acceptability and environmental change. Agriculture engineering also covers scientific methods, like environmental survey and offers opportunities to specialize in soil and water conservation, pest management; tropical crop or animal production and rural resource economics.
Agriculture engineering includes knowledge of farm enterprise cycles, farm routines, farm safety, farm equipment and its correct use, daily activity planning, livestock handling, farm recording; and an introduction to additional field soil, crop and livestock measurements, sampling, recording and data analysis.
Agriculture engineering concentrates on the physiology and technology of crop production and the relationship between current agronomic practices and the scientific understanding of crop growth and development. Areas of emphasis include water quality, surface and subsurface flow, contaminant transport, animal environment and air quality, waste and manure management, resource utilization, machine systems, safety and grain quality.
The job titles of an Agriculture Engineer vary from i) Designer ii) Agricultural and Biosystems Engineer to iii) Product Support Specialist and iv) Production Engineer.
The tasks of Agricultural Engineers comprises of:
a) Design and manufacture of agricultural machinery and power
b) Farm structures
c) Soil and water conservation
d) Rural electrification
e) Processing of agricultural products
One could also opt for specializations in various branches of agriculture engineering:
• Bioprocessing
• Food Engineering
• Environmental and Natural Resources
• Irrigation
• Animal Waste Management
• Agricultural Air Quality
Here is a list of the top colleges in engineering
