Agricultural Engineer
Agricultural engineers create equipment and systems that enhance workflows in the agriculture sector and encourage efficiency.
They plan out farmland layouts, create and refine new farming equipment, and create systems, buildings, and materials that boost output.
An agricultural engineer is what?
- Individuals who work as agricultural engineers frequently have the following employment responsibilities:
- Create equipment, machinery, and systems that will speed up processes and increase farm production.
- Create agricultural structures that provide more favorable settings for livestock or products.
- Assessing current agricultural practices will help you create revision and improvement plans.
- Use CAD (computer-aided design) software) to aid in planning
What a Day Is Like
Creating more effective systems for the agriculture sector is what agricultural engineers do. This covers a wide range of duties and specialties. Agricultural engineers may create designs for innovative and effective farm machinery, including both manually controlled and artificial intelligence-guided technology.
They might design buildings used on farms to hold either crops or cattle, developing plans aimed at improving comfort or output in buildings.
Before farms start producing, certain agricultural engineers are involved in the planning process.
These engineers design farmland layouts that take into account the kinds of crops that should be planted where based on the soil type and quality, the areas that will receive more or less sunlight throughout the day, and how to alter the land to create drainage patterns that will help with crop production.
To create their ideas, these agricultural engineers put a lot of effort into surveying and evaluating the land.
Other agricultural engineers are more focused on agricultural byproducts. They might come up with new types of fertilizer for better crop production, build more effective and secure ways to dispose of animal waste, or create innovative techniques for cooling and preserving harvested food.
Agricultural engineers spend a lot of time in the field observing their implemented plans as well as general operations on working farms, even though some of their workdays will be spent in an office.
Regular Work Hours
Although bad weather can affect their schedules, most agricultural engineers work full-time hours. Due to weather conditions affecting the engineer’s capacity to accomplish his or her duties, it is not uncommon for an agricultural engineer to work 60 hours one week and 20 hours the next.
Common Employers
The most common employers of agricultural engineers are engineering firms, the federal, state, and municipal governments, food manufacturing businesses, and schools and universities.
A Guide to Agricultural Engineering
Getting a bachelor’s degree is the initial requirement to becoming an agricultural engineer. Though other engineering programs can be suitable, agricultural engineering is typically the major chosen by aspiring agricultural engineers. Whatever their chosen degree, students should take farm management-related courses.
This job field benefits from taking courses on natural resource engineering, agricultural machinery planning, geographic information systems, and water and soil management.
You should be able to find entry-level employment as an agricultural engineer with a bachelor’s degree. To be eligible for positions with greater salaries, many ambitious agricultural engineers choose to obtain their licenses.
You must first take and pass a Fundamentals of Engineering exam to become a certified agricultural engineer. You can enroll in an internship or apprenticeship program with an accomplished, licensed agricultural engineer after passing this exam.
Each state has its licensing requirements, but in general, a license requires 4 years of professional internship, entry-level work, or apprentice training.
You can be eligible to take the Professional Engineering test if you have the necessary amount of prerequisite experience. You can become licensed to work as an engineer in your state after passing this exam.
Nevertheless, you might also need to enroll in continuing education classes during your career to keep your license.
Data on agricultural engineers’ Salaries
The information below will help you learn more about this profession. The editorial material and recommendations on this page are based on our research, while the income and growth information is based on newly released Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Low Range for National Annual Salaries
$59,810 Average $78,490
Superior $116,830
Nationwide minimum wage
Low Range $29 Per Hour Average $38 Per Hour High Range $56 Per Hour
How do the wages of Agricultural Engineers compare to those of other professions nationwide?
According to the most recent statistics on employment across the country, agricultural engineers can earn an average yearly salary of $78,490, or $38 per hour.
Depending on the state you live in or possibly when just starting, they can make as little as $59,810 or $29 per hour.