Agricultural engineering

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Agricultural engineer
US Navy 060427-N-1825C-001 Combat Systems Sciences and Technology Program Naval Postgraduate student Ensign Tom Dunbar, works with an autonomous robot originally designed to maneuver in agricultural settings.jpg
An agricultural and biosystems engineer fixing an agricultural robot
Occupation
NamesAgricultural engineer, agricultural and biosystems engineer
Occupation type
Profession
Activity sectors
Engineering, agriculture
Description
Competencies Engineering, agriculture
Fields of
employment
Engineering, agribusiness, farm
Related jobs
Agriculturist, farmer, farm worker, engineer

Agricultural engineering, also known as agricultural and biosystems engineering, is the field of study and application of engineering science and designs principles for agriculture purposes, combining the various disciplines of mechanical, civil, electrical, food science, environmental, software, and chemical engineering to improve the efficiency of farms and agribusiness enterprises [1] as well as to ensure sustainability of natural and renewable resources. [2]

Contents

An agricultural engineer is an engineer with an agriculture background. Agricultural engineers make the engineering designs and plans in an agricultural project, usually in partnership with an agriculturist who is more proficient in farming and agricultural science.

History

Irrigation canal in Pisac, Peru Irrigation canal in Pisac, Peru 2019-10-16-1.jpg
Irrigation canal in Pisac, Peru

The first use of agricultural engineering was the introduction of irrigation in large scale agriculture in the Nile and the Euphrates rivers before 2000 B.C. Large irrigation structures were also present in Baluchistan and India before Christian era. In other parts of Asia, agricultural engineering was heavily present in China. In South America irrigation was practiced in Peru by the Incas and in North America by the Aztecs. [3]

The Last Furrow by Henry Herbert La Thangue Henry Herbert La Thangue - The Last Furrow 1895.jpg
The Last Furrow by Henry Herbert La Thangue

The earliest plough was the ard or scratch-plough. [4]

Settlers practiced irrigation in the vicinity of San Antonio in 1715, the Mormons practiced irrigation in Salt Lake Valley in 1847. [3]

With growing mechanization and steam power in the Industrial Revolution, a new age in agricultural engineering began. Over the course of the Industrial Revolution, mechanical harvesters and planters would replace field hands in most of the food and cash crop industries. Mechanical threshing was introduced in 1761 by John Lloyd, Magnus Strindberg and Dietrich. Beater bar threshing machine was built by Andrew Meikle in 1786. [5] A cast iron plow was first made by Charles Newbold between 1790 and 1796. [3]

Old Style Sunshine Harvester found in Henty (wine) region of NSW Australia Old Style Harvester.jpg
Old Style Sunshine Harvester found in Henty (wine) region of NSW Australia

James Smith constructed a mower in 1811. George Berry used a steam combine harvester in 1886. [5] John Deere made his first steel plow in 1833. The two horse cultivator was first about 1861. [3]

Fork hay tedder Hay tedder p.jpg
Fork hay tedder

The introduction of these engineering concepts into the field of agriculture allowed for an enormous boost in the productivity of crops, dubbed a "second agricultural revolution" which consisted of: [6]

  1. Shift from peasant subsistence-farming to cash-farming for the market
  2. Technical changes of crop rotations and livestock improvement
  3. Labour being replaced by machinery
A cultivator pulled by a tractor in Canada in 1943 Farm. Tractor - Farm, Ville LaSalle BAnQ P48S1P08968.jpg
A cultivator pulled by a tractor in Canada in 1943

In the 20th century, with the rise in reliable engines in airplanes, cropdusters were implemented to disperse pesticides. Benjamin Holt built a combine harvester powered by petrol in 1911. Erwin Peucker constructed bulldog tractors 1936. Deutz-Fahr produced the rotary hay tedder in 1961. [5]

In the late 20th century, genetically modified foods (GMOs) were created, giving another large boost to crop yields and resistance to pests. [7]

Sub-disciplines

Agricultural engineering has many sub-disciplines, the most common of which are listed here:

Agricultural machinery

Agricultural structures

Agricultural surveying

Aquaculture

Biomechanics and ergonomics

Forestry engineering

Irrigation

Land development

Pesticides

Precision agriculture

Soil management

Roles of agricultural engineers

Agricultural engineers may perform tasks such as planning, supervising, and managing the building of dairy effluent schemes, irrigation, drainage, flood water control systems, performing 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. 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.

Armenia

In 2006, Armenia's agricultural sector accounted for about 20 percent of the GDP. By 2010, it grew to about 25 percent. [8] This was and is higher than in Armenia's neighboring countries of Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Iran, in which the contribution of agriculture to the GDP in 2017 was 6.88, 5.63, 6.08, and 9.05 percent, respectively. [9]

Philippines

In the Philippines, the professional designation is registered agricultural and biosystems engineer'. These engineers are licensed and accredited after successfully passing the Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Licensure Examination. A prospective agricultural and biosystems engineer must have a four-year Bachelor of Science in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering.

The practice of agricultural and biosystems engineering also includes the following:

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the term agricultural engineer is often also used to describe a person who repairs or modifies agricultural equipment.

United States

The American Society of Agricultural Engineers, now known as the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE), was founded in 1907. [10] It is a leading organization in the agricultural engineering field. The ASABE provides safety and regulatory standards for the agricultural industry. These standards and regulations are developed on an international scale for fertilizers, soil conditions, fisheries, biofuels, biogas, feed machinery, tractors, and machinery. [1]

See also

Agricultural machine as play structure Soufli - playground, agricultural machine.jpg
Agricultural machine as play structure

Related Research Articles

Agricultural science is a broad multidisciplinary field of biology that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic and social sciences that are used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. Professionals of the agricultural science are called agricultural scientists or agriculturists.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to agriculture:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intensive farming</span> Branch of agriculture

Intensive agriculture, also known as intensive farming, conventional, or industrial agriculture, is a type of agriculture, both of crop plants and of animals, with higher levels of input and output per unit of agricultural land area. It is characterized by a low fallow ratio, higher use of inputs such as capital, labour, agrochemicals and water, and higher crop yields per unit land area.

The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) is an international professional society devoted to agricultural and biological engineering. It was founded in December 1907 at the University of Wisconsin–Madison as the American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE) and is now based in St. Joseph, Michigan. Today the organization has about 9,000 members in over 100 countries. ASABE serves many functions: it provides a forum for communication of research findings through conferences, scientific journals, and a magazine; it develops standards of practice; it provides opportunities for members to network. It cooperates with the Alpha Epsilon honor society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harvest</span> Process of gathering mature crops from fields

Harvesting is the process of collecting plants, animals, or fish as food, especially the process of gathering mature crops, and "the harvest" also refers to the collected crops. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulses for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most labor-intensive activity of the growing season. On large mechanized farms, harvesting uses farm machinery, such as the combine harvester. Automation has increased the efficiency of both the seeding and harvesting processes. Specialized harvesting equipment, using conveyor belts for gentle gripping and mass transport, replaces the manual task of removing each seedling by hand. The term "harvesting" in general usage may include immediate postharvest handling, including cleaning, sorting, packing, and cooling.

Agribusiness is the industry, enterprises, and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in the bio-economy, in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise. The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit while satisfying the needs of consumers for products related to natural resources. Agribusinesses comprise farms, food and fiber processing, forestry, fisheries, biotechnology and biofuel enterprises and their input suppliers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mechanised agriculture</span> Agriculture using powered machinery

Mechanised agriculture or agricultural mechanization is the use of machinery and equipment, ranging from simple and basic hand tools to more sophisticated, motorized equipment and machinery, to perform agricultural operations. In modern times, powered machinery has replaced many farm task formerly carried out by manual labour or by working animals such as oxen, horses and mules.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agriculturist</span> Professional in agriculture management

An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the United States, and the European Union. Other names used to designate the profession include agricultural scientist, agricultural manager, agricultural planner, agriculture researcher, or agriculture policy maker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agriculture in Canada</span> Overview of agriculture in Canada

Canada is one of the largest agricultural producers and exporters in the world. As with other developed nations, the proportion of the population agriculture employed and agricultural GDP as a percentage of the national GDP fell dramatically over the 20th century, but it remains an important element of the Canadian economy. A wide range of agriculture is practised in Canada from Newfoundland on the Atlantic to British Columbia on the Pacific. In the federal government, overview of Canadian agriculture is the responsibility of the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biological systems engineering</span>

Biological systems engineering or biosystems engineering is a broad-based engineering discipline with particular emphasis on non-medical biology. It can be thought of as a subset of the broader notion of biological engineering or bio-technology though not in the respects that pertain to biomedical engineering as biosystems engineering tends to focus less on medical applications than on agriculture, ecosystems, and food science. The discipline focuses broadly on environmentally sound and sustainable engineering solutions to meet societies' ecologically related needs. Biosystems engineering integrates the expertise of fundamental engineering fields with expertise from non-engineering disciplines.

Intensive crop farming is a modern industrialized form of crop farming. Intensive crop farming's methods include innovation in agricultural machinery, farming methods, genetic engineering technology, techniques for achieving economies of scale in production, the creation of new markets for consumption, patent protection of genetic information, and global trade. These methods are widespread in developed nations.

The South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) is the principal research institute of the Government of South Australia, with a network of research centres, laboratories and field sites both in metropolitan Adelaide and throughout South Australia. SARDI is part of Primary Industries and Regions SA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agricultural machinery</span> Machinery used in farming or other agriculture

Agricultural machinery relates to the mechanical structures and devices used in farming or other agriculture. There are many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractors and the farm implements that they tow or operate. Machinery is used in both organic and nonorganic farming. Especially since the advent of mechanised agriculture, agricultural machinery is an indispensable part of how the world is fed.

This is an index of agriculture topics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vietnam National University of Agriculture</span> University

Vietnam National University of Agriculture, until 2014 Hanoi University of Agriculture (HUA), is an education and research university specializing in the agricultural sector. The university is located in Trau Quy town, Gia Lam district, a Hanoi suburban area, about 12 km far from Hanoi city centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agricultural Engineering Building</span> United States historic place

The Agricultural Engineering Building is a historic 1907 building in Madison, Wisconsin which houses the Biological Systems Engineering Department of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Over the years the building hosted important investigations into soil erosion, improvements on the first forage harvester, and Aldo Leopold's new Department of Wildlife Management, among other milestones. In 1985 the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places, and is now part of the Henry Mall Historic District.

The agricultural machinery industry or agricultural engineering industry is the part of the industry, that produces and maintain tractors, agricultural machinery and agricultural implements used in farming or other agriculture. This branch is considered to be part of the machinery industry.

Agricultural technology or agrotechnology is the use of technology in agriculture, horticulture, and aquaculture with the aim of improving yield, efficiency, and profitability. Agricultural technology can be products, services or applications derived from agriculture that improve various input and output processes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources</span> University in Malawi

The Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) is a university outside Lilongwe, Malawi. It was formed in 2011 by a merger between Bunda College of Agriculture of the University of Malawi and Natural Resources College (NRC).

References

  1. 1 2 "ASABE". asabe.org. Retrieved 2018-04-13.
  2. "Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering | Professional Regulation Commission". prc.gov.ph. Retrieved 2021-05-01.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Davidson J.B. 1913. Agricultural engineering, Webb Publishing
  4. Andersen, T.B., Jensen, P.S., Skovsgaard C.S., 2016. The Heavy Plough and the Agricultural Revolution in Medieval Europe. Journal of Development Economics
  5. 1 2 3 H. Klaus, Milestones in the history of agricultural engineering, The world of agricultural engineering 2011
  6. F. M. L. Thompson (1968), The Second Agricultural Revolution, 1815-1880, The Economic History Review, Wiley
  7. "ASABE 100 years of innovation" (PDF). ASABE.
  8. "Kocharian Orders Tax Exemption For Armenian Farmers", Armenia Liberty (RFE/RL), August 8, 2006.
  9. "GDP share of agriculture by country, around the world".
  10. "ASABE website". Archived from the original on 14 May 2009. Retrieved 15 May 2009.

Further reading