Engineers Journal AMPLIFIED

Ploughing Forward: The Engineering Behind Agriculture

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Episode notes

The agriculture sector has had to embrace adaptability and innovation as it navigates new technologies and the climate crisis. 

Today we’re diving into agriculture and discovering how engineers are developing solutions for a better future in the sector. We hear about their impressive sustainability efforts and how AI and automation are playing an important role. 

Our experts today are Associate Professor and Vice Principal for Internationalisation in UCD College of Engineering & Architecture, Tom Curran, Mechanical engineer with Agrigear, Neil Pigott and Agricultural Inspector with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Robert Leonard. 

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

01:12 How the Department Of Agriculture uses engineering 

04:12 Engineering in agriculture machinery 

07:30 Current research in agriculture 

09:26 Application of robotics and automation 

14:22 Collection and analysing data from farms 

15:31 Smart farming 

17:03 Adapting the farming industry to new tech

21:40 The Ploughing Championships 

23:01 Climate change challenges for the sector 

24:48 Sustainability efforts in agriculture 

GUEST DETAILS
Tom Curran is an Associate Professor and Vice Principal for Internationalisation in UCD College of Engineering & Architecture. He leads the Horizon Europe project, BioBeo, on innovative education for the bioeconomy with 15 partners across 10 European countries. He is the Director of the UCD MSc Environmental Technology degree programme. His research interests include waste management and air quality. He is a graduate of UCD's Engineering programme, holding a BE (Ag & Food), MEngSc (Environmental Engineering) and a PhD in Biosystems Engineering. He worked in production and environmental management in the food industry for a number of years before joining as faculty in UCD School of Biosystems and Food Engineering.

Website: https://people.ucd.ie/tom.curran 

Social Media: https://ie.linkedin.com/in/tompcurran 

Niall Pigott is a chartered engineer with extensive experience in mechanical design and manufacturing engineering, with strong quality compliance exposure. Comprehensive knowledge of Solidworks 3D CAD (computer aided design) and Lantek Expert CAM (computer aided manufacturing) software.

Website: https://www.agrigear.ie/wheel-rim-manufacturing  

Social Media: https://www.linkedin.com/in/niall-pigott-a5131638/ 

Robert Leonard holds an honours degree in Agricultural Engineering and a Masters in Mechanical Engineering.  He completed his PhD in UCD, the focus of which was looking at the development of decision support systems for spraying potatoes against late Blight and spray drift reduction techniques. Robert joined the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in July 2002.  His role is to provide technical specifications, to support agricultural industries, that meet required standards (including legal) in respect of Construction, Health and Safety, Animal Welfare and the Environment. To promote and implement specific measures supporting environmentally sustainable agriculture and to provide specialist expertise to various divisions and offices that are charged with implementing schemes associated with grant aid for agricultural and forestry related industries.

MORE INFORMATION

Looking for ways to explore or advance a career in the field of engineering? Visit Engineers Ireland to learn more about the many programs and resources on offer. https://www.engineersireland.ie/  

Engineers Journal AMPLIFIED is produced by DustPod.io for Engineers Ireland.

QUOTES

The research touches on the environmental impacts of the whole chain from the farm to the fork from getting the herbs out of the fields or foreign buildings, right through to processing of the food so that it's ready for consumers to eat in a safe manner, but also in the most sustainable way as well. - Tom Curran 

The applications of robotics within agricultural engineering is really in its genesis mode and this sort of engineering will blossom in the very near future. This technology will not take away people's jobs, but it will actually enhance people's jobs. - Niall Pigott 

There's a lot of technology coming from the fertilizer and pesticide application side looking at identifying weeds, diseases, and applying pesticide just to the points of where it's at using vision control. All that information can be fed into a higher level of AI to actually get them to understand what way to apply crops and to get the best return while having the least inputs. - Robert Leonard 

I think the farming community in general is quite adaptive, they have to be. - Niall Pigott

In the future there's going to be a lot more robotic controls, but you need to be monitoring what's going on. It's not a case of just watching and letting the robots take over. The farmer needs to understand the information they're getting. - Robert Leonard 

Farming is such a long standing industry, we all need farmers to produce our food. It's like everything else, some people are resistant to change naturally. I grew up on a farm and I’m currently a part time farmer. Inspeaking to and engaging with farmers, a lot of farmers are probably the most innovative people I know - Tom Curran 

If we do a certain action, we have to take into account so many different factors; climate, nature, water, air, etc. This is a message I think that we need to communicate to the general public, how engineers and scientists are working to be more environmentally sustainable, but also to take into account changing weather patterns for the future. - Tom Curran 

KEYWORDS

#engineering #farming #agriculture #machinery #sustainability #ploughingchampionships