The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE), was founded in 1907 and is based in St. Joseph, Michigan. It is an international engineering society with about 9000 members in over 100 countries. ASABE serves many functions: it provides a forum for communication of research findings through conferences, scientific journals, and a magazine; it develops standards for agricultural engineering and biological engineering practice; it provides opportunities for members to network. ASABE is a regional member of International Commission of Agricultural Engineering (CIGR).
Until 2005 the society was known as the American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE). After years of debate, members of the organization voted to modify the name to better reflect the evolution of the profession represented by the organization. For many years, the discipline had broadened to include engineering for biological systems, and the name change simply reflected this reality. Most of the university departments of agricultural engineering had already changed their names.