By the mid-1960s, the growth rate of agricultural production in the USSR had declined. The possibilities of involving new lands in economic turnover were exhausted. It was necessary to find new approaches to solving problems in agriculture, including the training of highly qualified specialists. (The research purpose) The research purpose is in considering the development of domestic agricultural engineering education during the 1970 -2000 s. (Materials and methods) The article shows that the materials of the Plenums of the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1965-1985 marked the beginning of a new stage of agrarian reforms. It was found that providing the agricultural sector with qualified specialists becomes a crucial condition for increasing agricultural production. (Results and discussion) The article notes the leading role of the creation of educational and experimental farms and the introduction of production practices in improving the professional training of specialists for agriculture. They emphasized the creation of a new discipline - mechanized agricultural technology. It has been identified the need to train more mechanical and electrical engineers for agricultural enterprises. It was found that agriculture needs specialists of a wide profile, technological engineers who are able to work independently in the field of engineering and technical policy of agricultural enterprises of various profiles and different forms of ownership. (Conclusions) The Soviet Union created a coherent system of Agroengineering institutes that successfully solved the problem of training engineers for the rapidly developing mechanized and electrified agriculture. The zonal location of the institutes provided training for specialists adapted to the production and technological problems of a particular region. The current development of the country differs significantly from the experience of one in the past. However, personnel issues, including the issues of personnel support for agricultural production in the system of higher professional education, remain relevant due to the rapid development and complexity of technical equipment for modern agricultural production, the introduction of digital information technologies, automation and robotics.