What does an Agricultural Engineer do?

Did you hear about the magic tractor? It turned into a field of crops. ✨

If you chuckled at that, you might be an agricultural engineer at heart!

From installing irrigation systems to extending the life of fruit and vegetables, these super smart engineers make sure the world stays fed. 

Agricultural engineers are the masterminds behind modern agriculture. They give farmers the tools to efficiently and sustainably produce high-quality crops, and use science and technology to manage, protect and preserve farming resources. 

Let’s take a look at what agricultural engineers actually do.

What is agricultural engineering?

Agricultural engineering is the design, development, and improvement of agricultural land, machinery, and equipment. It involves working outdoors and indoors, checking sites, keeping an eye on machinery, and supervising projects.

These engineers examine aspects related to pollution and the environment, equipment effectiveness, agricultural processing, manipulation of soil, and agricultural product storage.

What do agricultural engineers design and build?

Agricultural engineers design irrigation, machinery, and equipment to improve the production, processing, and distribution of food and other agricultural products. 

They collaborate with other experts and create control systems to increase maximum horticulture and animal production. Farmers and ranchers turn to agricultural engineers for help with increasing soil fertility, manure disposal, controlling diseases and pests, and making better, more efficient use of the environment and resources.

When these superheroes of the agriculture world aren’t on-site getting their hands dirty, they’ll be in their office doing research, making plans and managing projects.

What tools do they use to do their job?

Agricultural engineers use various tools to maximise productivity, sustainability, and dependability of food, feed, fibre, and fuel. They use microcomputers, controls, artificial intelligence, and other software to combine automation, precision, and smart technologies with new and existing equipment.

They also use tractors, ploughs, remote sensing, variable-rate technology, yields monitors, GPS, a host of hand tools, and sometimes a good old-fashioned measuring tape.

How has agricultural engineering shaped our world?

Modern agriculture is the brainchild of agricultural engineers. They apply engineering science to the crop fields to ensure that farmers have the equipment they need to efficiently and sustainably grow high-quality crops. 

Any technological system on a farm, such as reduced pollution in farms’ water supply, automated planting, timed irrigation and increased effectiveness of rural electric power systems, is the product of agricultural engineering.

How will agricultural engineering influence our future?

Agricultural engineers are constantly working to improve the way we feed the world, from establishing innovative techniques of planting and harvesting to developing water conservation technologies.

With carbon footprints increasing, some agricultural engineers are creating new types of biofuels by using non-food resources, such as algae and agricultural waste.

They play a crucial role in ensuring that our food systems are sustainable, effective, and ecologically responsible – a rather important task if we want to live to see the next century!

To get in touch with our agricultural engineering team to talk about making your next project a reality, please email info@lithon.com