An agricultural engineer helps to make farming sustainable, safe, and environmentally friendly. How? By analyzing agricultural operations and looking at new technologies and ways of doing things to improve land use, increase yields, and conserve resources.
This is an interesting and dynamic career choice, as agricultural engineering combines mechanical, civil, electrical, and chemical engineering principles with agricultural principles.
Agricultural engineers have much to do as increasing biological discoveries are adopted to farming practices like on-farm energy production. New uses for agricultural waste are becoming evident and crops are yielding not only food, but new byproducts.
Agricultural engineers design equipment and develop methods for land preparation, planting and harvesting. They use automation, precision, and smart or “intelligence” technologies with new and existing equipment. Sensors are used in combination with microcomputers, controllers, artificial intelligence and other software, which optimizes efficiency, sustainability, and the reliability of food, feed, fibre and fuel for the economy.
Agricultural engineers improve on ways to reduce crop loss from field damage during handling, sorting, packing and processing. Warehousing of food and fibre are an important part of the agriculture industry; the agricultural engineer plans the heating, cooling, ventilation, post harvest handling, logistics and more.
Agricultural engineers work with:
Agricultural engineers work both indoors and out. Their work can depend on the weather or growing seasons, so they sometimes work long hours to take advantage of the right conditions.
An agricultural engineer works with industries associated with agriculture such as equipment companies, seed manufacturers and food companies/distributors.
Some agricultural engineers work directly with farmers and agricultural technicians to solve issues with crop, land and livestock. Large farm operations may consult or hire agricultural engineers to resolve management and technical issues. A good number of engineers work for government agencies that oversee agricultural entities.
The average salary for an Agricultural Engineer is KSH136,000. A person working in Gardening / Farming / Fishing in Kenya typically earns around KSH88,000 per month. Salaries range from KSH37,000 (lowest average) to KSH220,000 (highest average, actual maximum salary is higher).
Farming establishments will continue to require more machinery, equipment, and buildings to increase the efficiency of agricultural production systems and to reduce environmental damage, which should maintain demand for these workers.
Agricultural engineers are expected to continue working on projects such as alternative energies and biofuels; precision and automated farming technologies for irrigation, spraying, and harvesting; and growing food in space to support future exploration.
More efficient designs for traditional agricultural engineering projects such as irrigation, storage, and worker safety systems will also maintain demand for these workers. Growing populations and stronger global competition will result in the industry needing more efficient means of production, which will increase demand for agricultural engineers.
High school students who want to become an agricultural engineer should study mathematics (like trigonometry, algebra, and calculus) and science (like chemistry, biology, and physics).
A bachelor’s degree is typically required to start out in agricultural engineering. Undergraduate students of agricultural engineering study in classrooms, laboratories, and the field for 4 years before receiving a bachelor’s degree. They study subjects like mathematics, engineering principles, and science. Cooperative programs, which are available in most universities and colleges, let students finish their degree while simultaneously receiving valuable experience in their field.
