Welcome Message from the President
We are today living in unprecedented times. We exist in a global community where economic production has never been as high, and where cultural diversity is appreciated and encouraged. We live in a time when the human lifespan has never been longer in our history as a species, a time when food production has never been as large in absolute terms, a time when health related technologies and services have never been so advanced, a time when our understanding of nature through scientific discovery has never been so great.
However, regardless of all our past successes as a human species, we have never faced problems of the magnitude that we are facing now: more people than ever, in absolute terms, go hungry or are undernourished today that at any other time in history; never have we had the number of people that we have today suffering from curable diseases; never have we had the number of people we have today without adequate clothing and shelter; and never before in our history as a species, have we, ourselves, become such a threat to ourselves and this spaceship we call Planet Earth.
The challenges before us are great, but within these challenges lay opportunities for our profession to make significant and long lasting contributions to human society. We, and the dedicated professionals that came before us, as agricultural and biosystems engineers have faced challenges in the past and, have made contributions through ingenuity and hard work, to solve these problems and improve the quality of life of our fellow men and women. We have done this through the persistent application of scientific principles to the development of effective and economical solutions for what seemed at times to be overwhelming problems.
We saw in the first half of the 20th century how engineering--through its contributions to mechanization of labor in farm production, rural electrification, and transportation--transformed agriculture which allowed a small number of farmers to produce enough to satisfy the needs of a large population. The increases in productivity resulting directly from the work of engineers were responsible for liberating a workforce which then could be dedicated to building an industrial society. During the second half of the 20th century new and improved technologies to manage farm inputs, natural resources, and all processes from the field to the consumer, resulted in increased agricultural diversity and productivity.
Today as our societies continue to evolve, the rate at which natural resources are used is an issue in itself that is stressing them beyond their capacity to regenerate. It is within this domain, amongst others, that we are faced as a profession with the challenge of providing solutions which address the immediate problems facing society, solutions which are in tune with nature, and ensure a reasonable quality of life for all generations to come. While these problems are complex and involve many interrelated factors, engineering science and technology will be an important contributor to their resolution.
Scientific advancements have been translated by engineers to practical systems that improve the lives of our citizens. Today, we are the beneficiaries of scientific discovery and technological development which took place during the 1950’s. Namely, the invention of the digital computer, the discovery of the double helix, and the launch of the Sputnik satellite were watershed events that led to profound transformations in our profession.
The discovery of the double helix led into a series of innovations and changes which resulted in the “bio” prefix in many engineering disciplines, for example biotechnology, biostatistics, and bioinformatics. More importantly, our understanding of Biology increased to the point where it became in many ways quantifiable, leading directly to its application in engineering and transforming our profession into agricultural and biological engineering or biosystems engineering. Biology as a science came to enrich the tool set and the problem solving capacity of the engineer by complementing our knowledge of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics.
The invention of the digital computer and the development of networking and satellite technologies, were important contributors to our contemporary information and communication technology. The application of powerful computational tools, and information and communication technologies, in turn created many opportunities for discovery and development of new tools and techniques. This had a direct impact on many of the disciplines and specialties in our domain.
We are about to see Biology and Information and Communication
Technology converge. This will create a new set of tools and opportunities for us to contribute to the solution of our world’s problems. In addition, developments in brain science, materials science, energy, nanotechnology and further developments in genetics are likely to have a profound influence on our profession.
Regardless of how elaborate and sophisticated contemporary and future technologies are, and what our personal interests are and drive to use the latest technology is, more than ever we need to apply our traditional set of skills in combination with our new skills to focus on the ultimate goal, which is to improve the quality of life for those we serve. This is particularly true for those communities across the globe that are under duress.
With engineering science and technology, education is an area where CIGR can make an important contribution. CIGR is a forum where scientists and engineers meet to define problems, propose and discuss ideas, where many of the solutions to our contemporary problems are engendered and shared. A focus on education will further improve CIGR’s reach to all areas where engineering science and technology can be a contributor to improving the human condition.
I’m looking forward to continue working with you.
Prof. Fedro Zazueta
President of CIGR
