Agricultural Science and Engineering

Agricultural science is a broad multidisciplinary field that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic and social sciences that are used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. (Veterinary science, but not animal science, is often excluded from the definition.)

Agriculture and agricultural science

The two terms are often confused. However, they cover different concepts:

• Agriculture is the set of activities that transform the environment for the production of animals and plants for human use. Agriculture concerns techniques, including the application of agronomic research.
• Agronomy is research and development related to studying and improving plant-based agriculture.

Agricultural sciences include research and development on:

• Production techniques (e.g., irrigation management, recommended nitrogen inputs)
• Improving agricultural productivity in terms of quantity and quality (e.g., selection of drought-resistant crops and animals, development of new pesticides, yield-sensing technologies, simulation models of crop growth, in-vitro cell culture techniques)
• Transformation of primary products into end-consumer products (e.g., production, preservation, and packaging of dairy products)
• Prevention and correction of adverse

Agricultural engineering is the engineering discipline that applies engineering science and technology to agricultural production and processing. Agricultural engineering combines the disciplines of animal biology, plant biology, and mechanical, civil, electrical and chemical engineering principles with a knowledge of agricultural principles. It utilizes the knowledge of engineering for making agricultural machinery.^[1]

Subfields

Some of the specialties of agricultural engineers include:^[1][2]

• the design of agricultural machinery, equipment, and agricultural structures
• crop production, including seeding, tillage, irrigation and the conservation of soil and water
• animal production, including the care and processing of poultry and fish and dairy management
• the processing of food and other agricultural and biorenewable products,and food engineering.
• Bioresource engineering, which uses machines on the molecular level to help the environment.