undergradly.
Major · Engineering

Engineering the systems behind food, water, and farms

Agricultural Engineering applies the same ABET-accredited engineering rigor as mechanical or civil tracks, but aims it at machinery, irrigation, food processing, and biosystems. Roughly 759 students complete this major each year across about 38 land-grants, with bachelor's earners pulling a median near $84K five years out.

Schools offering
38
Annual completions
759
Typical degree level
Associate's + Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$84k

About this major

Agricultural Engineering (CIP 14.0301) sits at the intersection of biology and the standard engineering toolkit. The federal definition frames it as applying mathematical and scientific principles to systems, equipment, and facilities for producing, processing, storing, handling, and distributing food, feed, and fiber — with explicit reach into aquaculture, forestry, and natural resources. In practice that means students take the same statics, fluids, thermodynamics, and controls coursework as any ABET-accredited engineer, then layer on soil mechanics, machinery design, irrigation hydraulics, food-process engineering, and biosystems modeling. Several programs have rebranded as 'Biosystems Engineering' or 'Agricultural and Biological Engineering' to signal the broader food, environmental, and biomedical-adjacent scope.

The major rewards students who like tangible, physical systems and don't mind that the systems in question are tractors, grain dryers, food-processing lines, or center-pivot irrigation networks rather than aircraft or microchips. Comfort with biology and soil science helps, but the math and mechanics expectation is the same as any other engineering track. The career destinations span machinery design at firms like John Deere and AGCO, irrigation engineering, food-processing roles, and federal research positions at USDA-ARS, NRCS, and state extension services. BLS pegs the agricultural-engineer occupation (SOC 17-2021) at a $84,630 median wage.

It's a small field — roughly 759 bachelor's completions a year across about 38 institutions, almost entirely concentrated at land-grants like Maryland, Purdue, Illinois, Ohio State, Michigan State, Iowa State, Penn State, NC State, and Cal Poly. That scale is part of the major's economics: small graduating cohorts plus direct corporate-and-federal recruiting pipelines tend to produce strong placement at the schools that offer it.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

Occupation Median wage Job growth Typical education
Architectural and engineering managers $168k +3.8% Bachelor's degree
Engineering teachers, postsecondary $106k +8.1% Doctoral or professional degree
Agricultural engineers $85k +5.9% Bachelor's degree
Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$84k

Associate's vs Bachelor's — early-career earnings

Associate's

$64k

Bachelor's

$84k

Who this major is for

You may thrive here if you genuinely enjoy physical, mechanical systems and want engineering training that ends in something you can stand next to in a field, a processing plant, or a watershed; if you're comfortable with the same calculus-physics-thermo core that mechanical and civil engineers take but want it pointed at food, soil, and water rather than aerospace; if you're drawn to employers like John Deere, AGCO, USDA-ARS, or Cargill and the rural and Midwest geography they live in; if you want a clear FE → EIT → PE licensure path (the NCEES Agricultural and Biological Engineering PE exam is a real option); and if a small graduating class at a land-grant — with the tight industry recruiting that comes with it — sounds like a feature, not a bug.

Think twice if you're hoping to land in a major coastal tech metro, since the labor market for SOC 17-2021 ag engineers is roughly 1,500 jobs nationally and concentrated in the Midwest, Plains, and West Coast specialty-crop regions; if you want the higher entry salaries typical of ECE or ChemE, because Agricultural Engineering's $84K five-year median, while solid, lags those fields; if you'd rather work on aircraft, semiconductors, or biomedical devices, where Mechanical (33,431 grads/year) or Biomedical (8,569 grads/year) are more direct fits; or if you can't see yourself committing to the full ABET workload — the engineering core is non-negotiable, and there are lighter-touch agriculture or environmental science majors that match the subject matter without the math sequence.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Agricultural Engineering

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
University of Maryland-College Park College Park, MD 0 88 88
Purdue University-Main Campus West Lafayette, IN 0 78 78
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL 0 73 73
Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH 0 43 43
Michigan State University East Lansing, MI 0 40 40
Oregon State University Corvallis, OR 0 36 36
Iowa State University Ames, IA 0 35 35
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus University Park, PA 0 32 32
North Carolina State University at Raleigh Raleigh, NC 0 32 32
California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA 0 32 32
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Mechanical Engineering

33,431 completions/yr

Electrical and Electronics Engineering

14,891 completions/yr

Civil Engineering, General

13,488 completions/yr

Computer Engineering, General

9,312 completions/yr

Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering

8,569 completions/yr

Chemical Engineering

7,914 completions/yr

Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical/Space Engineering, General

6,386 completions/yr

Engineering, General

5,416 completions/yr
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What do Agricultural Engineering majors actually study day-to-day?
The same calculus, statics, dynamics, fluid mechanics, and thermodynamics core that any engineer takes — paired with biological and soil systems, machinery design, and irrigation hydraulics. CIP 14.0301 explicitly covers production, processing, storage, handling, and distribution of food, feed, and fiber, plus aquaculture and natural resources. Many programs are now branded 'Biosystems' or 'Agricultural and Biological Engineering' and add tracks in food engineering, bioprocessing, or precision-ag sensing.
Do I need a bachelor's, or is an associate's enough?
Engineering roles need the bachelor's. The earnings split in the data is stark: associate's holders in this CIP code report a median around $63,815, while bachelor's holders sit at $84,434. The bachelor's is also what makes you eligible to sit for the FE exam and start the four-year EIT clock toward Professional Engineer (PE) licensure — and NCEES offers an Agricultural and Biological Engineering PE specifically.
What kinds of jobs do Agricultural Engineering graduates end up in?
BLS tracks 'Agricultural Engineers' (SOC 17-2021) at a median wage of $84,630 with about 5.9% projected growth — but the absolute job market is small (around 1,500 nationally). Real placement spreads wider: machinery design at John Deere, AGCO, CNH Industrial; precision-ag tech at Trimble or Climate Corp/Bayer; food-processing engineering at Cargill, ADM, or Tyson; irrigation systems at Lindsay or Valmont; and federal research/conservation roles at USDA-ARS, NRCS, and state extension services.
How competitive is the job market for such a small major?
The field is genuinely niche — ~759 bachelor's grads a year across ~38 schools, against an ag-engineer occupation of only ~1,500 jobs. The flip side: land-grants like Iowa State, Purdue, Illinois, and Cal Poly report near-universal placement, partly because employers like John Deere and USDA recruit directly through these programs. The catch is geography: most jobs sit in the Midwest, Plains, and West Coast specialty-crop regions, not in big coastal metros.
How does this compare to Biomedical, Civil, or Mechanical Engineering?
All four are ABET-accredited bachelor's tracks with similar core curricula. Agricultural Engineering (CIP 14.0301) is the smallest at 759 completions, versus Mechanical at 33,431, Civil at 13,488, and Biomedical at 8,569. Median earnings five years out are competitive — $84K here vs. higher figures for ECE and ChemE — but you trade urban job density for a focused, non-saturated field with strong employer-school relationships.
What if I want research, not industry?
An MS opens roles at USDA-ARS national labs, state ag experiment stations, and R&D groups at companies like Bayer Crop Science or Climate Corp. A PhD is the path to academic engineering teaching — BLS lists postsecondary engineering teachers at a $106,120 median with 8.1% growth. Many land-grants admit their own undergrads directly into thesis MS programs with assistantships, which makes the research route financially viable.