Imagine working as a farm equipment design engineer at an agricultural machinery company dedicated to improving farm efficiency and sustainability. Your task involves conducting field tests on an innovative tractor for enhanced efficiency and reduced environmental impact. It’s early autumn, and you, alongside your team, are in the field, ready to evaluate the tractor’s performance under actual farming conditions.
The tractor features innovative precision planting technology and an engine optimized for lower emissions and fuel consumption, addressing the critical challenge of boosting agricultural productivity while minimizing ecological footprint. During the initial tests, you discover a software issue causing irregular seed spacing—a problem that could undermine the tractor’s efficiency and environmental benefits.
With a focus on problem-solving, you collaborate with your team to analyze the malfunction. After thorough testing and adjustments, you develop a software update that resolves the seeding inconsistency. The corrected system now ensures precise seed placement and shows a reduction in fuel usage.
This successful modification confirms the tractor’s potential to transform farming practices by making them more sustainable. It underscores the role of agricultural engineers in creating solutions that balance productivity with environmental stewardship. As the testing day concludes, the team has a collective sense of achievement, knowing your efforts contribute to advancing sustainable agriculture.
Job duties vary from one position to the next, but in general, agricultural engineers are involved in the following activities:
Agricultural engineers operate within the office, field, and laboratory. In each of these settings, individuals in this occupation carry out various duties.
The office:
The field:
The lab:
Agricultural engineers are employed across various sectors, encompassing government agencies, corporations, and educational institutions, such as:
Search for jobs on the ECO Canada Job Board.
If you are considering a career as an agricultural engineer, you should have a keen interest in:
If you are a post-secondary student considering a career as an agricultural engineer, the following undergraduate programs are most applicable:
An undergraduate degree is generally necessary for agricultural engineers focused on modern agriculture challenges, including sustainability, resource efficiency, and technology integration. An advanced degree, such as a master's or doctoral, offers technical expertise and theoretical understanding for addressing food production, resource management, and environmental issues within the agricultural sector. These qualifications are highly regarded in both professional and academic circles. Relevant post-graduate programs include:
Professional designations and certifications held by agricultural engineers may include:
Our Environmental Professional (EP) designation can also help you progress in your chosen environmental career.
Technical Skills
Personal and Professional Skills
Environmental employers look for professionals who can combine technical knowledge with soft skills. Watch our free webinar Essential Not Optional: Skills Needed to Succeed in Canada’s Environmental Industry, or take our Essential Skills courses.
"I wanted to go into engineering because of the variety of projects and the observable immediate impact of one’s work,” says Esther Bérubé. Esther became accustomed to variety early on. Her father was a civil engineer and the family spent years living abroad in Ghana, Venezuela, Niger, and Costa Rica. The living conditions she witnessed in these developing nations greatly influenced her career choice. "I saw a lot of people living in rapidly degrading areas.
Seeing this made me want to find a career where I could make their living conditions more stable and healthy.” Today, Esther has a bachelor’s degree in agricultural engineering and a master’s in chemical engineering and works as a junior engineer with Golder Associates in Montreal. She spends much of her time at her desk working on a project-to-project basis. However, two or three days of every month, Esther does get out in the field. Her duties there include supervising the digging of boreholes and taking water or soil samples to monitor environmental quality. "I really do enjoy being out in the field and getting my gloved hands—and safety equipment—dirty.”
In the office, Esther’s duties are varied and they include going over project designs, making calculations, and interacting directly with the client. "They (Golder Associates) are really good that way. They have their hands in so many different projects that I experience a broad range of the steps involved in assessing and treating contaminated sites.” The variety of projects also exposes Esther to a number of different professional styles. "Each project manager and engineer has a different approach,” notes Esther.
As a junior engineer in the company, she learns a great deal from this diversity. There are some drawbacks to Esther’s job. One of the largest is the quantity of information she must absorb and understand in a limited amount of time. While that is intimidating, she continues to surprise herself. "Sometimes I get off the phone with a contractor and say to myself, "Wow, I really knew what I was talking about. And to think only months ago I didn’t know any of this!”
Esther has also realized solving project dilemmas and problems are not nearly as easy in the real world. "When I was studying engineering, every question had a solution, and it was up to the student to reach it. You always knew that the information necessary to solve the problem was provided or readily available.” It wasn’t until she started her job at Golder that she realized, in the real world, every problem still has a solution, but due to constraints of time, money, and the environment, that solution isn’t always so easily reached.
Agricultural engineers blend engineering principles with technology to refine agricultural methods. Their goal? To solve challenges and ramp up efficiency. This role is pivotal for the environment, as it involves developing sustainable strategies that reduce resource use and pollution. These professionals are experts in crafting water management systems, conserving soil, and weaving renewable energy into the fabric of farming operations. Their work is a cornerstone of sustainable agriculture, aiming to boost productivity while minimizing the dependence on water, soil, and harmful chemicals like fertilizers and pesticides.
Economically, agricultural engineers are game changers. They not only help in reducing operational costs but also in elevating crop yields, offering a financial benefit to farmers and bolstering the economy. On the social front, their innovations can work to ensure a reliable food supply, improve food security, and raise the standard of living for farm communities.
Agricultural engineers follow sustainable practices to mitigate the ecological impact of farming. They are at the forefront of promoting biodiversity and gearing up for climate change. With a comprehensive approach that addresses the environmental, economic, and social facets of sustainability, agricultural engineers are driving agriculture toward a future that is resilient and kinder to our planet for generations to come.
Agricultural engineers are classified into the following occupational grouping:
NOC Code: 21399 – Other professionals engineers
What is an NOC Code?
The National Occupation Classification (NOC) provides a standardized language for describing the work performed by Canadians in the labour market. It gives statisticians, labour market analysts, career counsellors, employers, and individual job seekers a consistent way to collect data and describe and understand the nature of work within different occupations.
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