About Us – Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute, Coimbatore

About College

Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute, Coimbatore is offering four year degree programs in B.Tech. (Food Technology), B.Tech. (Energy and Environmental Engineering), B.Tech. (Agricultural Engineering), Masters’ and Doctoral degree in the fields of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, Renewable Energy Engineering, Processing and Food Engineering and Soil and Water Conservation Engineering. The Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute with the new paradigms in teaching and research is constantly redefining strategies and focusing new destinations. As an integrated strategic planning process, faculty of the institute played a key role in focusing and refining the directions of the institute for the future and the Institute is now refining its operations and seeking methods to enhance the discipline. The institute is committed to provide an excellent environment where students can reach their full potential with an academic experience of “thinking, learning and doing”.

Vision & Mission

Providing an educational experience that inspires students to contribute and compete in the rapidly changing global marketplace to achieve societal goals and to provide exemplary service to the profession; industry and in development of our country to succeed in the modern world.
Providing scientific basis for enhancing and sustaining productivity in the farming sector with modern agricultural implements, equipments and renewable energy.
Providing an environment for fully integrated outreach effort to link the institute with farm-to-fork approach in the area of food processing, food security and safety.
Providing leadership in the conservation of the natural resource base and enhancement of environmental quality.
Excellence in quality education and research in modernization of Agriculture with an astute blend of old and new technology to bring qualitative changes in the farming sector with unique and integral role in the conservation of State and Nation’s intellectual cultural and environmental heritage.

Genesis

Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute, Coimbatore is one of the constituent colleges of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University. This is the first college started in South India for providing an Agricultural Engineering degree course. The first batch of students was admitted in July 1972. The B.Tech. (Food Process Engineering) course was started during 1998 and the B.Tech. (Energy and Environmental Engineering) course was started during 2004.

The institute provides high quality research and scholarly environment where the talents of faculty members and students are used to generate new technology for the benefit of the farming society. Effective outreach programs accelerate the adoption of technology and extends educational opportunities for practicing professionals.

Activities & Achievements

The research programs are being funded by different agencies. Collaborative research with National and International institutes is being carried out which leads to release of various implements / machineries / equipments / technologies to cater the needs of the farmers and small entrepreneurs.

International agencies like CIDA, USAID-HED, FAO, SIDA, IDRC, ALO and National level funding agencies like ICAR, Government of India, Ministry of Food Processing, NCPA, CSIR, TEDA, MNES, NATP, NADP, NICRA and private agencies contributes financial assistance for the research activities.

Education

B.Tech. (Food Technology) Programme was accredited by Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi. The under graduate programme, B.Tech. (Food Technology) & B.Tech. (Energy and Environmental Engineering) is approved by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), New Delhi. B.Tech. (Agricultural Engineering) degree program revived during 2019-20 academic year after a gap of 27 years.

M.Tech. (Processing and Food Engineering), M.Tech. (Renewable Energy Engineering), M.Tech. (Farm Machinery and Power Engineering) and M.Tech. (Soil and Water Conservation Engineering) are being offered.

Ph.D. (Food Process Engineering), Ph.D. (Renewable Energy Engineering), Ph.D. (Farm Machinery and Power Engineering) and Ph.D. (Soil and Water Conservation Engineering) are being offered.

Salient Features of the college

The institute provides high quality research and scholarly environment where the talents of faculty members and students are developed and used to generate new knowledge and technology for the benefit of the farming society and entrepreneurs. In our institute teaching and research are mutually supportive and one cannot excel without the other. Effective outreach programs accelerates the adoption of technology and extends educational opportunities for practicing professionals.

Departments

Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering
Department of Soil and Water Conservation Engineering
Department of Food Process Engineering
Department of Renewable Energy Engineering
Centre for Post Harvest Technology
Department of Physical Sciences and Information Technology

Significant contributions in upliftment of farming community

Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute, TNAU have released 172 agricultural equipment & machineries from 1972 onwards. The following released agricultural equipment & machineries are mainly very useful to farmers.

Paddy Drum Seeder
Dry land weeder
SRI power weeder
Cultivator cum seed drill
Groundnut Harvester
Coconut Tree Climber
Tractor operated Rhizome planter
Mini Dhal mill
Turmeric value chain machinery
Paddy Parboiling unit
Solar Tunnel Drier
Biomass Gasifier
Double chamber centrifugal de-huller for millets

The Agricultural Technology and Machinery Demonstration Mela conducted on every year and to interact with farmers from various districts in Tamil Nadu.

Trainings to the farmers

Biogas users’ trainings
Use of Solar Energy in Agriculture and Allied Sector
Post Harvest Management and Value addition of Horticultural Crops
Bakery users’ training
Farm Mechanization for profitable agriculture
Skill development programme on “Greenhouse operator”

Milestones in Development of Agricultural Engineering Education

1972	College of Agricultural Engineering – B.E. (Ag) programme was started
1977	M.E. (Ag) in Farm Power Machinery and Soil & Water Conservation Engineering was started
1984	M.E. (Ag) in Agricultural Processing was started
1986	M.E. (Ag) in Bio energy was started
1987	Ph.D. in Agricultural Engineering was started
1992	Ph.D. in Agricultural Processing, Bioenergy, Farm Power and Machinery and Soil and Water Conservation Engineering were started
1992	B.E. (Ag) was shifted to Kumulur, Trichirappalli
1998	B.Tech. (Food Process Engineering) was started
2004	B.Tech. (Energy and Environmental Engineering) was started
2011	M.Tech. (Environmental Engineering) was started
2015	M.Tech. (Storage Engineering)
2015	M.Sc. (Agricultural Statistics)
2019	Revival of Department of Farm Machinery and Soil And Water Conservation Engineering
2019	B.Tech. (Agricultural Engineering) degree program revived during 2019-20 academic year after a gap of 27 years.

Future Endeavours

The future focus area is towards Artificial intelligence and Robotic based Agricultural Machinery, Precision farming, Hydroponics, New and Renewable Energy gadgets, Post Harvest Engineering and Value addition technologies.

Prominent Books and Publications

Research Articles: 352 numbers