Employment in Agricultural Engineering

By: Tyler Lahusky

Employment in agricultural engineering includes a vast range of opportunities. Numerous companies in society hire agricultural engineers for many different engineering and agricultural related needs. To get an idea of what the nature of these companies might be, an understanding of what agricultural engineers do in the workforce is necessary. Agricultural engineers may perform any of the following tasks, along with many more that are not listed.

• Design new forms of irrigation, drainage and flood or water control systems
• Perform reviews of research and literature related to their field
• Collect field samples and control samples for problem solving and research analysis
• Construction design of agricultural buildings and storage facilities
• Design of many different kinds of agricultural equipment
• Advocate sustainable agricultural practices
• Research new and better ways of farming
• Conduct research regarding new designs and improvements for current farming practices

(Source: "What Is an Agricultural Engineer?" How to Become an Agricultural Engineer. Environmental Science, 2015. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.)

(Source: http://work.chron.com/DM-Resize/photos.demandstudios.com/getty/article/41/192/78295358.jpg?w=650&h=406&keep_ratio=1&webp=1

The breakdown of employment of agricultural engineers does not include all the different possibilities. It covers some of the most popular employment opportunities of agricultural engineers. As of 2012, the partial breakdown of agricultural engineer employment was as follows:

• 17% - Architectural, Engineering, and Related Services
• 16% - Federal Government
• 14% - Food Manufacturing
• 13% - Agriculture, Construction and Mining Machinery
• 6% - Educators

(Source : "What Is an Agricultural Engineer?" How to Become an Agricultural Engineer. Environmental Science, 2015. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.)

Using a popular job search website called “Indeed”, I was able to locate a number of companies that were hiring agricultural engineers. Many of the jobs I found using the website fell under the design category, but that may be a biased sample based on the sampling method of using an online job website. Here are the results that I was able to locate:

• Bolten & Menk Inc. - Agricultural Drainage/Water Resources Engineer (Bolten & Menk)
• Dynamic Technical Services - Mechanical Design Engineer in Agricultural Construction (Dynamic Technical Services)
• RFA Engineering - Product Engineering for Equipment (RFA Engineering)
• John Deere - Ag and Turf Division Engineer for Real Axle Components (John Deere)
• Caterpillar - Develop and Validate Cooling Components (Caterpillar)
• Great Plains Inc. - Design Engineer for Agricultural Equipment (Great Plains)

Sources: 

"Agricultural Drainage/Water Resources Engineer (EI)." Bolten and Menk Inc., 17 Oct. 2015. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.

Services - Bettendorf, IA." Indeed.com. Dynamic Technical Services, 8 Oct. 2015. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.

"Experienced Product Engineer." - RFA Engineering. RFA Engineering, 20 Oct. 2015. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.

"Mechanical Design Engineer and Project Engineer Job - Oxbo International - Clear Lake, WI." Indeed.com. Oxbo International, 2015. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.

"Taleo - Global." Taleo - Global. John Deere, 14 Oct. 2015. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.

"Senior Engineer-Design (Cooling Component Design Lead)." Caterpillar. Caterpillar Inc., 21 Oct. 2015. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.

"Design Engineers." Steve.johnson. Great Plains, 16 Oct. 2015. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.

"What Is an Agricultural Engineer?" How to Become an Agricultural Engineer. Environmental Science, 2015. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.