The Graduate Program in Agricultural Engineering of the Federal University of Lavras (PPGEA) was created in March 1990 in the former "ESAL", currently UFLA. The program began in 1990. The first theses were completed two years after the beginning of the Program. In 1994, the Program received its first concept and was classified as Course "A" according to the evaluation of the Division of Monitoring and Evaluation of CAPES Graduate Courses, currently equivalent to concept 5. The doctorate level was approved by CAPES in 2002 and new lines of research were created. In 2010, PPGEA ceases to act in the area of concentration in water resources, restructuring itself according to the new regulation of PPGEA approved in 2010, being governed by the General Regulations of Graduate Programs (CEPE Resolution No. 256 of 2016). The main objectives of PPGEA with the master and doctorate courses are to train professionals to act as a professor or researcher in the field of Agricultural Engineering and also to generate knowledge, technologies, new products or processes in the following research lines: Construction, Ambience and Waste Treatment; Instrumentation; Agricultural Machinery and Mechanization; Agricultural Product Processing; Remote Sensing and Geoprocessing. The program has a semiannual selection of students, and has financial support mainly in research projects. The purposes of PPGEA are: Training of professionals in related fields to act as a professor or researcher; to provide the improvement of knowledge to competently solve the issues related to Agricultural Engineering; to contribute to the development of environmentally compatible and innovative technological products and processes; to develop innovative educational processes that promote qualified human development and citizenship; to base scientific and pedagogical conduct on ethical and socially correct standards.          

        Graduates will be awarded the titles of Magister Scientiae (M. Sc.) Or Doctor Scientiae (D.Sc.) in Agricultural Engineering, in accordance with current rules and regulations.         

        The faculty is composed of doctors graduated in renowned institutions of Brazil and abroad, compatible with the demand generated by the disciplines and lines of research.