Paul Burkner

Paul F. Burkner is a 1964 graduate in agricultural engineering and earned a master’s in agricultural engineering from the University of Hawaii at Honolulu in 1966. He started his career as an applied mechanization researcher for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1966 and co-founded Ag Industrial Manufacturing Inc. (AIM) in 1979. Burkner is known for his innovations and inventions in the field of custom agricultural machinery. He developed a new concept for a grape harvester in 1980 that is still in use today and has continued to develop countless harvesters and machinery for a diverse group of crops and various agricultural needs. The owner of several patents, Burkner is one of only 15 members of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers to be named to its 2009 class of fellows. Also in 2009, he was inducted into the San Joaquin County Agricultural Hall of Fame. He is an active member of the BioResource and Agricultural Engineering Department Advisory Committee and makes a point to hire several Cal Poly students to intern at AIM each year, where he has a direct hand in their training.