By Scout Nelson
South Dakota State University marked a major milestone as its Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering celebrated 100 years of education, research, and service. The celebration took place at a gala hosted at Club 71 in Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium, bringing together alumni, faculty, staff, students, and friends of the department.
Department head Kasiviswanathan “Muthu” Muthukumarappan said the event honoured the dedication and passion that shaped the department’s long history. The department began in 1925 when Ralph Patty became head of the new farm mechanics program. Over the decades, the department expanded its work and now uses advanced tools in the Raven Precision Agriculture Center to support cutting-edge research.
Research activity has grown significantly. The department’s research expenditures are now double what they were in 2017, when the precision agriculture building first began construction. Nearly all full-time faculty members are involved in externally funded projects covering weather science, robotics, and other areas. Leaders emphasize that major global challenges remain as agriculture works to feed a growing world population.
Yet they have not solved all the problems facing an industry that will need to feed a world population of 10 billion by 2050, according to alumnus and keynote speaker Kent Klemme, the director of engineering for turf and compact utility products for John Deere. “Engineering still has big problems to solve. Even with all the technology out there, there are still problems to solve,” said Klemme, who holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agricultural and biosystems engineering in 1990 and 1992, respectively.
“You’ll see tractors doing conventional fall tillage or strip tillage or possibly a harvested field ready for no-till, a practice that is possible due to equipment advancements thanks in part to this program. You’ll see crops being harvested, irrigation systems, conservation practices, livestock buildings, grain storage, feedlots, ethanol and soybean plants, meat-processing facilities, GPS systems, sprayers and maybe even drone sprayers,” Uilk said.
The event celebrated a century of progress and looked ahead to continued innovation, collaboration, and leadership in the agricultural engineering field.
Photo Credit: south-dakota-state-university
Categories: South Dakota, Crops, Soybeans, Education