International Commission of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering explained

International Commission of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering – CIGR (Commission Internationale du Genie Rural) founded in 1930 in Liège, Belgium, as an international, non-governmental, non-profit organization regrouping, as a networking system, regional and national societies of agricultural and biological engineering as well as private and public companies and individuals all over the world, is the largest and highest international institution in the field. Until 2008 the organisation was known as International Commission of Agricultural Engineering. Its membership includes American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE), Asian Association for Agricultural Engineering (AAAE), European Society of Agricultural Engineers (EurAgEng), Latin American and Caribbean Association of Agricultural Engineering (ALIA), South and East African Society of Agricultural Engineering (SEASAE), Euro Asian Association of Agricultural Engineers (EAAAE), Association of Agricultural Engineers of South-Eastern Europe (AAESEE), and many national societies.

Aims

The main missions of CIGR are to

stimulate the development of science and technology in the field of Agricultural Engineering,
encourage education, training and mobility of young professionals,
encourage inter regional mobility,
facilitate the exchange of research results and technology,
represent the profession at a worldwide level,
work towards the establishment of new associations, both at national and regional level, and to the strengthening of existing ones, and to
perform any other activity that will help to develop Agricultural Engineering and allied sciences.

Structure

The structure of CIGR is divided by seven technical Sections and various working groups. Each technical Section is charged with promoting and developing its respective field of science and technology as it relates to agricultural engineering. The CIGR Working Groups are appointed by the Executive Board to carry out studies on specific subjects of international importance and interest.

CIGR Technical Sections:
- Section I: Land and Water Engineering
- Section II: Farm Buildings, Equipment, Structures and Environment
- Section III: Equipment Engineering for Plant Production
- Section IV: Rural Electricity and other Energy Sources
- Section V: Management, Ergonomics and Systems Engineering
- Section VI: Postharvest Technology and process Engineering
- Section VII: Information Systems
CIGR Working Groups:
- Earth Observation for Land and Water Engineering Working Group
- Animal Housing in Hot Climate Working Group
- Rural Development and the Preservation of Cultural Heritages Working Group
- Cattle Housing Working Group
- Agricultural Engineering University Curricula Harmonization Working Group
- Rural Landscape Protection and Valorisation Working Group
- Image Analysis for Agricultural Processes and Products Working Group

Congresses

Year	City	Country
1930	Liege
1936	Madrid	Spain
~~1940~~	~~Rome~~	~~Italy~~ (cancelled)
1951	Rome
1958	Brussels
1964	Lausanne
1969	Baden-Baden
1974	Flevohof
1979	East Lansing, Michigan
1984	Budapest	Hungary
1989	Dublin
1994	Milan
1998	Rabat
2000	Tsukuba
2002	Chicago, Illinois
2006	Bonn
2010	Quebec City
2014	Beijing

Conferences

Year	City	Country
2004	Beijing
2008	Foz do Iguaçu
2012	Valencia

Presidents

1930–1950 Prof. Georges Bouckaert
1950–1962 Prof. Armand Blanc
1963–1967 Prof. Eladio Aranda Heredia ( Spain)
1967–1969 Honorary Doctor Pierre Regamey
1969–1974 Prof. Karel Petit
1974–1979 Mr. Fiepko Coolman
1979–1980 Mr. Talcott W. Edminster
1985–1989 Prof. László Lehoczky ( Hungary)
1989–1991 Prof. Paul McNulty
1991–1994 Prof. Giuseppe Pellizzi
1995–1996 Prof. Egil Berge
1997–1998 Prof. Osamu Kitani
1999–2000 Prof. Bill Stout
2001–2002 Prof. El Houssine Bartali
2003–2004 Prof. Axel Munack
2005–2006 Prof. Luis Santos Pereira
2007–2008 Prof. Irenilza de Alencar Naas)
2009–2010 Prof. Søren Pedersen
2011–2012 Prof. Fedro Zazueta
2013–2014 Prof. Da-Wen Sun
2015-2016 Prof. Tadeusz Juliszewski

Fellows

The title of Fellow is the highest honour in CIGR. The title of Fellow is conferred to individuals who have made sustained, outstanding contributions world-wide, and that continue to improve the outcomes of the Agricultural and Bio-systems Engineering profession.

2000: P. Abeels (Belgium), J. De Baerdemaeker (Belgium), E. Berge (Norway), J. Daelemans (Belgium), G. Pellizzi (Italy), Z. Sibalszky (Hungary), G. Singh (Thailand), J. Souty (France), H.van Lier (The Netherlands), H. Heege (Germany)
2002: A. Kamaruddin, G. Papadakis, J. Ortiz-Canavate, O. Marchenko, Y. Kishida, F. Bakker-Arkema, C. Hall, F. Coolman, A. Musy
2006: El Hassan Bourarach, Bill Stout, El Houssine Bartali, Makoto Hoki, Maohua Wang, Osamu Kitani