engineering in action AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING AND Feeding the Future Crabtree Publishing Company www crabtreebooks com Anne Rooney
WHAT IS AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING Providing a secure food supply to everyone on the planet is one of the greatest challenges facing the world Climate change and an increasing population mean that in some areas people struggle to grow enough food to survive Agricultural engineers and farmers are leading the effort to meet these challenges Agriculture is not concerned only with food It also involves the cultivation of or methods of growing living things for food fuel or materials The practice of agricultural methods is called farming Agricultural engineering aims to develop sustainable methods of farming which means methods that will not damage the environment Engineers develop mechanical and electronic technologies to make agriculture more efficient that is to produce more while using fewer resources Other types of engineering are often involved including mechanical electrical computer chemical food and genetic engineering Agricultural engineers have to take many issues into account including plant and animal health and climate change They must also consider ethical issues whether actions are morally right or wrong It means weighing different points of view in matters such as how we treat animals or affect the environment Agricultural engineers work to design farm machinery develop processes for treating crops and help to protect the soil 4
EIGHT STEPS TO SUCCESS Agricultural engineers follow an eight-step process to perfect their designs see right It covers designing building testing and improving technologies Steps in the design process Define the problem Identify criteria and constraints Brainstorm ideas Select a solution Build a prototype Improve the design Test the prototype Communicate the solution Engineering and science Science and engineering are closely linked Scientists investigate the world trying to discover the rules by which natural processes work Engineers apply the findings of science to make useful technologies An agricultural scientist might investigate how a plant takes nutrients from the soil An agricultural engineer would use that information to develop ways of delivering nutrients to plants Agricultural engineering works with many types of science including computing robotics chemistry environmental science botany zoology ecology and nutrition GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER Agricultural engineering technologies include processes George Washington Carver was an inventor and botanist born a slave in Diamond Grove Missouri around 1864 After slavery was abolished he became a farmer for a while He went on to study botany at college and later became head of the agriculture department of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama He encouraged and taught farmers to rotate crops growing cotton one year then switching to sweet potatoes or peanuts the next year Both these crops replace nitrogen taken from the soil by growing cotton This makes the soil fertile enough to grow cotton again George Washington Carver was a pioneer in soil management 5
