Agricultural engineering

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 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

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 17960 and 1796.[3]

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

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

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]

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

Agricultural Machinery

Agricultural Structures

Agricultural Surveying

Aquaculture

Biomechanics & Ergonomics

Forestry Engineering

Irrigation

Land Development

Pesticides

Precision Agriculture

Soil Management

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.

Agricultural machine as play structure

• Agricultural education
• Agricultural science
• Agronomy
• Bioresource engineering
• Biosystems engineering
• Copper alloys in aquaculture
• Industrial agriculture
• Institution of Agricultural Engineers
• List of agricultural machinery
• Mechanized agriculture
• Water softening

• Brown, R.H. (ed). (1988). CRC handbook of engineering in agriculture. Boca Raton, FL.: CRC Press. ISBN 0-8493-3860-3.
• Field, H. L., Solie, J. B., & Roth, L. O. (2007). Introduction to agricultural engineering technology: a problem solving approach. New York: Springer. ISBN 0-387-36913-9.
• Stewart, Robert E. (1979). Seven decades that changed America: a history of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers, 1907-1977. St. Joseph, Mich.: ASAE. OCLC 5947727.
• DeForest, S. S. (2007). The vision that cut drugery from farming forever. St. Joseph, Mich.: ASAE. ISBN 1-892769-61-1.