Agricultural Engineers (AGEN) apply knowledge of biological,
physical, and engineering sciences to problems that deal with living systems. They
develop systems to produce more food, while taking in the wellbeing of people
and the environment. They test and design new equipment to make sure it is safe
for agricultural and construction purpose. Another aspect of Agricultural
Engineering is to improve the quality of living while protecting the
environment.
During school Ag Engineers can emphasis in three classes
which are environmental, agricultural, and biomaterials systems. Environmental
systems are designed to ready people for aspects such as irrigation, watershed
management, hydrology, and waste management. The agricultural part is for
people seeking knowledge in machines, power, structural, and electronic
systems. Biomaterials are for people wanting to combine biological and physical
sciences for handling and processing biomaterials.
Graduates with a degree in Agricultural Engineering are prepared
for many diverse career paths. They may work to design, develop, test, and manufacture
machines for agricultural purposes. They could also protect or enhance
agricultural commodities by working with the way they are stored, handled, or
processed. Another career path for Ag Engineers is to design irrigations
systems and develop electrical and electronic applications for agricultural
products. Typical job titles for these career paths include Design Engineer,
Test Engineer, Consulting Engineer, Quality Control Engineer, and Energy
Advisor. Examples of employers for Ag
Engineers would include John Deere, Arctic Cat, Hormel, Cargill Inc., Natural
Resources Conservation Service, and rural electric cooperatives.
The outlook for this career field is relatively high. There
are several reasons for the relatively high outlook. One reason is that there
are many options after graduations for careers. Having knowledge of many
different aspects of agricultural and engineering increases your marketability
to employers. Another reason is the fact that people are always going to need
food. With the growing population of the world food production will have to
increase to supply the demand. Agricultural Engineers we be needed to figure
out and develop new technology to increase production to feed the growing
population. With the rising prices of fossil fuels Ag Engineers will be needed
to increase the efficiency of different process and develop new technologies that
consumers can afford.
There are several misleading and flawed viewpoints of
engineers by the general public. The biggest question of the general public is
why would an engineer design something like this. Meaning they do not like or
understand the reason for which certain process operate or the way objects have
been designed. There are several different reasons in why products are designed
and made the way they are. One reason would be cost. Easier designs generally
cost less which is more affordable for the general public. A second reason
would be rules and regulations. Engineers have to follow federal rules and design
products to meet safety requirements. A third reason things are made the way
they are is patents. People can not infringe on others patents so they have to
create new designs to produce products.
I find this field of engineering to be very interesting because I never knew the 'major' title to the people who build agricultural products. You are right when you say that we will need to grow a larger food supply to feed the demand of this growing world. It also is very important to create a less expensive more reliable machine, so farmers can keep up with the growing population.
ReplyDeleteI always just heard agriculture and thought farming. Sure engineer was at the end of it but I really couldn't wrap my head around what more could be done. Obviously I was wrong, agricultural engineers would are the driving force behind the survival of the world in keeping crop productions increasing with less and less area to do it in. Who knows how the problem of world hunger will be solved but I bet there will be an agricultural engineer there when it happens.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking the same thing as Ronald, whenever I heard agriculture I just thought of farming. I didnt realize all of the other aspects that went along with it. I think that it is really cool that you're going to helping the world get more food with the rising population. Good format too, easy to read and understand.
ReplyDeleteGood insight on what a Ag. engineer does. It seems to me, that they take nuances from all the different engineering fields and apply them to agriculture. I like how you mentioned cost. Cost is always a big factor when engineering, people don't always realize that.
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