Definition of Agricultural Engineering
Miscellanea / / July 04, 2021
By Javier Navarro, in Jun. 2015
The agricultural sector is made up of various fields of professional activity, such as planning, organization and control of the productive processes of cultivation, as well as the livestock species or the resources forestry. This range of possibilities is part of agricultural engineering as a profession and in its academic studies aspect.
What an agronomist does and should study
The agronomist is in charge of managing agricultural operations, mechanizing production processes, irrigation systems to optimize crops or obtain new varieties of plants or breeds of animals. The agronomist engineer uses science and technology as tools that can improve agricultural activity in any of its processes. For this reason, the student of this discipline must have knowledge of geometry, botany, chemistry, topography, climatology, agricultural machinery, legislation agrarian, irrigation systems or industrial crops, among other branches.
The origin of agricultural engineering
Although agriculture is an activity that is at the origin of human civilization, it was not until the century XlX when agricultural engineering appears as an academic discipline, especially in the United States and in Europe.
There are three circumstances that explain the emergence of this area of knowledge in the context of the nineteenth century. On the one hand, the mechanization of the field, since traditional farming techniques are beginning to be replaced by a technology that transforms agricultural activity and its possibilities. Second, there is increasing specialization and there is a need to coordinate rigorous knowledge regarding the field. Finally, the agricultural sector begins a stage of commercialization due to the new means of transport (singularly the train).
Keys to this area
The agronomist tries to optimize the crops to enhance their commercialization, for which he must bear in mind two important circumstances: the safety food in a general sense and respect for environment.
The student of this discipline and the future professional is in the context of a debate general: the sectors in favor of transgenic foods or those that defend an agriculture ecological. This controversy has consequences of an economic nature, related to health and productivity. Keep in mind that a transgenic food is one that has been genetically modified. This is positive to avoid some pests, but in the transformation process the natural properties of the crops are changed.
Topics in Agricultural Engineering