Agricultural Engineer Apply knowledge of engineering technology and biological science to agricultural problems concerned with power and machinery, electrification, structures, soil and water conservation, and processing of agricultural products.
Agricultural Engineer is Also Know as
In different settings, Agricultural Engineer is titled as
- Agricultural Engineer
- Agricultural Systems Specialist
- Conservation Engineer
- Engineer
- Product Engineer
- Product Technology Scientist
- Project Engineer
- Research Agricultural Engineer
Education and Training of Agricultural Engineer
Agricultural Engineer is categorized in Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Agricultural Engineer
A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
Education Required for Agricultural Engineer
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
Degrees Related to Agricultural Engineer
- Bachelor in Agricultural Engineering
- Associate Degree Courses in Agricultural Engineering
- Masters Degree Courses in Agricultural Engineering
Training Required for Agricultural Engineer
Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Agricultural Engineer in different industries are
- Precision Agriculture Technicians
- Soil and Plant Scientists
- Industrial Ecologists
- Conservation Scientists
- Environmental Engineers
- Farmers, Ranchers, and Other Agricultural Managers
- Industrial Engineers
- Biofuels Production Managers
- Biofuels/Biodiesel Technology and Product Development Managers
- Water/Wastewater Engineers
- Agricultural Technicians
- Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technicians
- Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians
- Civil Engineers
- Environmental Engineering Technologists and Technicians
- Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health
- Forest and Conservation Technicians
- Water Resource Specialists
- Geothermal Production Managers
- Agricultural Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary
What Do Agricultural Engineer do?
- Visit sites to observe environmental problems, to consult with contractors, or to monitor construction activities.
- Design agricultural machinery components and equipment, using computer-aided design (CAD) technology.
- Test agricultural machinery and equipment to ensure adequate performance.
- Design structures for crop storage, animal shelter and loading, and animal and crop processing, and supervise their construction.
- Provide advice on water quality and issues related to pollution management, river control, and ground and surface water resources.
- Conduct educational programs that provide farmers or farm cooperative members with information that can help them improve agricultural productivity.
- Discuss plans with clients, contractors, consultants, and other engineers so that they can be evaluated and necessary changes made.
- Supervise food processing or manufacturing plant operations.
- Design and supervise environmental and land reclamation projects in agriculture and related industries.
- Plan and direct construction of rural electric-power distribution systems, and irrigation, drainage, and flood control systems for soil and water conservation.
- Design food processing plants and related mechanical systems.
- Prepare reports, sketches, working drawings, specifications, proposals, and budgets for proposed sites or systems.
- Meet with clients, such as district or regional councils, farmers, and developers, to discuss their needs.
- Design sensing, measuring, and recording devices, and other instrumentation used to study plant or animal life.
Qualities of Good Agricultural Engineer
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
Tools Used by Agricultural Engineer
- Desktop computers
- Laptop computers
- Personal computers
- Personal digital assistants PDA
- Plotters
- Total stations
Technology Skills required for Agricultural Engineer
- Adobe InDesign
- Adobe Photoshop
- Autodesk AutoCAD
- Dassault Systemes SolidWorks
- Eagle Point LANDCADD
- Enterprise resource planning ERP software
- ESRI ArcView
- Microsoft Access
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Project
- Microsoft SharePoint
- Microsoft Word
- Oracle Database
- Oracle Java
- PTC Creo Parametric
- PTC Pro/Pipe
- SAP software
- SAS
- Supervisory control and data acquisition SCADA software
- Web browser software
- Word processing software