# International Commission of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering

International Commission of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering – CIGR (Commission Internationale du Genie Rural) founded in 1930 in Liège, Belgium, is "an international, non-governmental, non-profit organization consisting of a network of Regional and National Societies of Agricultural Engineering as well as private and public companies and individuals worldwide", 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.

## Structure

The structure of CIGR is divided into seven technical Sections and various working groups. Technical sections promote and develop their respective fields as they relate to agricultural engineering. The Executive Board appoints working groups to "carry out studies on specific subjects of international importance and interest."
* CIGR Technical Sections:
** Section I: Land and Water
** Section II: Structures and Environment
** Section III: Plant Production
** Section IV: Energy in Agriculture
** Section V: System Management
** Section VI: Bioprocesses
** Section VII: Information Technology
* CIGR Working Groups:
** WG1 Animal Housing in Hot Climate
** WG2 – Cattle Housing
** WG3 – Agricultural Engineering University Curricula Harmonization
** WG4 – Rural Landscape Protection and Valorisation
** WG5 – Image Analysis for Agricultural Processes and Products
** WG6 – Food Safety
** WG7 – Logistics
** WG8 – Precision Aerial Application
** WG9 – Plant Factory and Intelligent Greenhouse
** WG10 – Functional Wellness Foods and Nutrition
** WG11 – Rural Development and Preservation of Cultural Heritage
** WG12 – Artificial Intelligence and Data Science
** WG13 – Circular Bioeconomy

## Journal

CIGR publishes a journal, the Agricultural Engineering International: CIGR Journal. In 2021, the journal had an impact factor of 0.484. It has a SCImago Journal Rank of 0.191 as of 2023. This rank placed it in the third quartile in the "Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering" and "Automotive Engineering" categories and the fourth quartile in the "Agronomy and Crop Science" and "Energy (miscellaneous)" categories. It had an h-index of 28.

## World Congresses

CIGR has held the following World Congresses:
| Year | City | Country |
| 1930 | Liege | Belgium |
| 1936 | Madrid | Spain |
| 1940 | Rome | Italy (cancelled) |
| 1951 | Rome | Italy |
| 1958 | Brussels | Belgium |
| 1964 | Lausanne | Switzerland |
| 1969 | Baden-Baden | West Germany |
| 1974 | Flevohof | Netherlands |
| 1979 | East Lansing | United States |
| 1984 | Budapest | Hungary |
| 1989 | Dublin | Ireland |
| 1994 | Milan | Italy |
| 1998 | Rabat | Morocco |
| 2000 | Tsukuba | Japan |
| 2002 | Chicago | United States |
| 2006 | Bonn | Germany |
| 2010 | Quebec City | Canada |
| 2014 | Beijing | China |
| 2018 | Antalya | Turkey |
| 2022 | Kyoto | Japan |

## Conferences

Every four years, CIGR holds the world's largest agricultural technology conference, the CIGR International Conference. The conference years and locations are as follows:
| Year | City | Country |
| 2004 | Beijing | China |
| 2008 | Foz do Iguaçu | Brazil |
| 2012 | Valencia | Spain |
| 2016 | Aarhus | Spain |
| 2021 | Quebec City | Canada |
| 2021 | Jeju Island | South Korea |

## Presidents

The following have been organization presidents:
* 1930–1950 Prof. Georges Bouckaert ( Belgium)
* 1950–1962 Prof. Armand Blanc ( France)
* 1963–1967 Prof. Eladio Aranda Heredia ( Spain)
* 1967–1969 Honorary Doctor Pierre Regamey ( Switzerland)
* 1969–1974 Prof. Karel Petit ( Belgium)
* 1974–1979 Mr. Fiepko Coolman ( Netherlands)
* 1979–1980 Mr. Talcott W. Edminster ( United States)
* 1985–1989 Prof. László Lehoczky ( Hungary)
* 1989–1991 Prof. Paul McNulty ( Ireland)
* 1991–1994 Prof. Giuseppe Pellizzi ( Italy)
* 1995–1996 Prof. Egil Berge ( Norway)
* 1997–1998 Prof. Osamu Kitani ( Japan)
* 1999–2000 Prof. Bill Stout ( United States)
* 2001–2002 Prof. El Houssine Bartali ( Morocco)
* 2003–2004 Prof. Axel Munack ( Germany)
* 2005–2006 Prof. Luis Santos Pereira ( Portugal)
* 2007–2008 Prof. Irenilza de Alencar Naas ( Brazil))
* 2009–2010 Prof. Søren Pedersen ( Denmark)
* 2011–2012 Prof. Fedro Zazueta ( United States)
* 2013–2014 Prof. Da-Wen Sun ( Ireland)
* 2015–2016 Prof. Tadeusz Juliszewski Poland
* 2016–2018 Prof. Zhi Chen ( China)
* 2019–2020 Prof. Linus Opara ( South Africa)
* 2021–2022 Prof. Remigio Berruto ( Italy)
* 2023–2024 Prof. Seishi Ninomiya ( Japan)

## iAABE

The International Academy of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering was founded during the 2014 World Congress primarily to recognize outstanding individuals within the field. The academy gives the title of Fellow of iAABE (previously CIGR Fellow).