All Things Ag: Impact of Agricultural Engineering

By: Tyler Lahusky

"There are many jobs you can do with your degree, like feeding the world" - John Deere Company

Agricultural engineering is unlike many other careers or degrees that someone can obtain. It is not something that can be thought of as a "take it or leave it" career. Instead, agricultural engineering is a necessary career in a growing world with many growing issues. As the world population rises, problems present themselves in the form of food shortages, water shortages, health issues and a growing energy crisis. Agricultural engineers are a select group of people that set out to battle these issues and keep the world turning, improving life for everyone throughout the world. ("History | BAE")

The Mission - To improve the quality of life by integrating and applying principals of engineering and biology to systems involving food, environment, energy and health. - Michigan State University ("History | BAE")

Working in these areas, agricultural engineers work to improve food quality and bio-security. This is done in a number of different ways, but all with the same impact in mind - creating a safer food industry in the world. This is just one of the ways that agricultural engineering affects each and every one of us in our everyday lives. Along with food safety, a growing population has created a massive energy crisis. In order to combat this energy crisis, it is agricultural engineers that work to create innovative biological solutions to new energy sources. New biological energy sources has a lasting impact on the environment as we can discontinue our use of non-renewable energy sources, as well as a lasting impact on everyone's wallet. ("History | BAE")

When people think of agriculture, they think of farming. This is another major task that agricultural engineers undertake in their quest to improve the world. Farming techniques are constantly in need of improvement to save money and increase yield to supply a growing population. In order to do this, new processes and machinery must be invented to get the job done. Agricultural engineers design these processes and machines to make life easier for today's farmers and bring greater amounts of fresh food to more tables throughout the world. ("What does an Agricultural Engineer do?")

If you read my post about biotechnology, you may already have an idea of what it is and the impact it may have. Biotechnology is the genetic modification of organisms to create a better product as the result. The impact of biotechnology through the work of agricultural engineers is highly significant. Implementation of biotechnology has the power to alter the course of world hunger and malnutrition. People who live in climates were it is difficult to grow certain foods would be able to grow new plants through genetic engineering, allowing access to nutrients they never had access to before. Biotechnology also allows agricultural engineers to create things like a new way to vaccinate for disease. For example, in order to vaccinate for a specific disease, agricultural engineers genetically modify a fruit to grow that vaccine. Therefore, all one has to do is eat the fruit to become vaccinated. (Frompovicz)

Clearly the work of agricultural engineers is not anything close to mediocre, but is a career that has a lasting impact and can ultimately change the world. For more insight as to what an agricultural engineer does and the impact they have, watch the video below from Michigan State University on Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering.