Book Description

The abundance of agricultural production enjoyed in the United States is the result of a federal-state partnership that relies on land grant universities to respond to the needs of society through research, invention, problem-solving, outreach, and applied science and engineering. The Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department at Texas A&M University, established in 1915, has been an important part of that effort. Over the hundred years of its existence, it has successfully tackled the challenges of mechanization, electrification, irrigation, harvest, transport, and more to the benefit of agriculture in Texas, the United States, and the world. In this book, historian Henry Dethloff and current department chair Stephen Searcy explore the history of the department—its people, its activity, its growth—and project the department’s future for its second century, when its primary task will be to sustainably help meet the needs of a predicted 9.6 billion Earth residents and to recognize that societal food concerns are focused more and more on sustainable production and human health.