Agricultural engineering is a very interesting and important career to consider pursuing. The prospects for an agricultural engineer are very promising in a variety of industries. The agricultural engineer degree builds on the principles and skills from engineering and applies them to the industry of agriculture in several ways. As professionals, these engineers often work for farming manufactures, food corporations, government or academic institutions and many other types of employers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are less than 4,000 agricultural engineers in the country today and the growth for this career is looking positive in the long-term.

The foundation of this profession is engineering, the first few years of college for students will be spent in engineering courses. An engineering college is the more advantageous, perhaps even necessary option. There are many large schools with strong engineering programs; the most important step is to verify the university has an agricultural engineer degree program. Many times there are other closely related programs offered such as biological engineering or bio-systems engineering. Once the student has completed the first two years of physics, math, science and engineering courses, the next step is to choose an academic focus in the agricultural industry. Students can apply the fresh knowledge of engineering to agriculture in terms of construction and building farms, innovations for crops and livestock, genetics and botany, or even hydro-systems and irrigation.

The agricultural engineers often use analytics, physics, and technology to help farmers, corporations, and manufactures solve and comprehend complex projects. Many of these engineers are able to work on a consult basis because of the high demand for their valuable knowledge and skill-set in the workplace. These engineers will commonly work in teams with a variety of professionals in a project-management type of structure. Other agricultural engineering graduates may end up working with research firms on renewable energy solutions or perhaps solving world hunger. Agriculture is an integral aspect of the world economy; leaders in the industry depend on agricultural engineering expertise for a profit and success. In this growing industry, the agricultural engineers are compensated quite handsomely in return.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts growth for twelve percent across the industry for agricultural engineers almost into the year of 2020. At this time, agricultural engineering is one of the higher paying occupations in the country; salaries are considerably higher than average in other industries. The average starting salary for an undergraduate is approximately $55,000 per year; the median income for these engineers is around $69,000 per year. In contrast; the average income for the agricultural engineers employed by the government is around $81,000 per year; almost sixty percent of agricultural engineers work for the government in some form or another. The poorest ten percent of agricultural engineers in the nation earned more than $43,000 per year.

Agricultural engineer is one of many careers that is part of the STEM field of occupations. STEM refers to careers in science, technology, math and engineering that have been deemed high in value to society by the government and academia alike. These highly technical, high-paying careers help shape innovation and progress globally; these students are offered many grants and scholarships, as these careers only currently account for 6% of the nation’s employed. The skills and influence of agricultural engineering have the potential to solve significant national and global issues in the present and future.

This engineering profession is an extremely promising career for ambitious students with a variety of interests and strong math and analytical skills. The skills acquired, alongside courses taken in engineering college can be applied in many different industries and multiple professions within the agricultural sector. The largest employers of agricultural engineers are the government, academic institutions, large food and produce corporations and farm equipment manufacturers. These engineers are amongst the highest paid and are currently in high demand into another 15 years at-least. This career path offers stability as well as variety to students; agricultural engineers are likely to have both significant opportunity and influence in any number of different professional pursuits.