Development of agricultural engineering research: from agricultural technology to biosystem engineering
2004
Kaufmann, R.(Agroscope FAT Taenikon, Eidgenoessische Forschungsanstalt fuer Agrarwirtschaft und Landtechnik, Ettenhausen (Switzerland)) | Schrottmaier, J.
Research in agricultural engineering provides the bases for business investment decisions. Such research shows how powerful technology and building measures can lead to more environmentally and socially compatible production, thus cushioning the adverse effects of structural change. The core task of research is to spot trends early on and supply advice on implementation in our environment. As part of this process, interdisciplinary methods are used, in particular by combining research results from agricultural technology and agricultural economics. Agricultural engineering research at the Tänikon site continues to be ideally positioned between universitarian research, agricultural extension and practice. In the European context, the public withdrawal from this research discipline is already having perceptible disadvantages. One particular area of interest is the mechanisation of mountain farming as a major factor in the full use of hill and mountain regions with more difficult production conditions in an environmentally compatible way. Based on the development of agricultural engineering research to date, other trends are described in detail and evaluated. Electronics is set to play a growing role both in technology, where the key words will be semi- or full automation, and in farm management, with the emphasis on precision farming and data management. Attention continues to be paid to technical and organisational measures to improve environmental soundness and animal welfare. There is an ongoing need for inexpensive processes, particularly in construction methods to suit our farms, which tend to be small by international standards.
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