Everything about Agricultural Machinery totally explained
Agricultural machinery is one of the most
revolutionary and impactful applications of modern
technology. The truly elemental
human need for
food has often driven the development of technology and
machines. Over the last 250 years, advances in
farm equipment have transformed the way people are employed and produce their food worldwide!
History
Hand tools
The first person to turn from the
hunting and gathering lifestyle to
farming probably did so by using his bare
hands, and perhaps some sticks or stones.
Tools such as
knives,
scythes, and
wooden
plows were eventually developed, and dominated agriculture for thousands of years. During this time, almost everyone worked in agriculture, because each
family could barely raise enough food for themselves with the limited technology of the day.
The Industrial Revolution
With the coming of the
Industrial Revolution and the development of more complicated machines, farming methods took a great leap forward. Instead of
harvesting grain by hand with a sharp
blade,
wheeled machines cut a continuous swath. Instead of
threshing the grain by beating it with sticks,
threshing machines separated the
seeds from the heads and stalks.
Steam power
These machines required a lot of
power, which was originally supplied by
horses or other
domesticated animals. With the invention of
steam power came the
portable engine and later the
traction engine, a multipurpose, mobile
energy source that was the ground-crawling cousin to the
steam locomotive. Agricultural
steam engines took over the heavy pulling work of
horses, and were also equipped with a
pulley that could power stationary machines via the use of a long
belt. The steam-powered behemoths were low-powered by today's standards but, because of their size and their low
gear ratios, they could provide a large
drawbar pull. Their slow speed led farmers to comment that tractors had two speeds: "slow, and darn slow."
The internal combustion engine
Gasoline, and later
diesel engines became the main source of power for the next generation of tractors. These engines also contributed to the development of the self-propelled, combined harvester and thresher, or
combine for short. Instead of cutting the grain stalks and transporting them to a stationary threshing machine, these combines cut, threshed, and separated the grain while moving continuously through the field.
Types
Combines might have taken the harvesting job away from tractors, but tractors still do the majority of work on a modern farm. They are used to pull
implements—machines that till the ground, plant seed, or perform a number of other tasks.
Tillage implements prepare the
soil for planting by loosening the soil and killing
weeds or competing plants. The best-known is the
plow, the ancient implement that was upgraded in
1838 by a man named
John Deere. Plows are actually used less frequently in the
U.S. today, with offset
disks used instead to turn over the soil and
chisels used to gain the depth needed to retain moisture.
The most common type of
seeder is called a
planter and spaces seeds out equally in long rows, which are usually 2 to 3
feet apart. Some
crops are planted by
drills, which put out much more seed in rows less than a foot apart, blanketing the field with crops.
Transplanters fully or partially automate the task of transplanting
seedlings to the field. With the widespread use of
plastic mulch,
plastic mulch layers, transplanters, and seeders lay down long rows of
plastic, and plant through them automatically.
After planting, other implements can be used to cultivate weeds from between rows, or to spread
fertilizer and
pesticides.
Hay balers can be used to tightly package grass or
alfalfa into a storable form for the
winter months.
Modern
irrigation also relies on a great deal of machinery. A variety of engines,
pumps and other specialized gear are used to provide
water quickly and in high volumes to large areas of land. Similar types of equipment can be used to deliver
fertilizers and
pesticides.
And, besides the tractor, a variety of vehicles have been adapted for use in various aspects of farming, including
trucks, s, and
helicopters, for everything from transporting crops and making equipment mobile, to aerial spraying and
livestock herd management.
New technology and the future
The basic technology of agricultural machines has changed little in the last
century. Though modern harvesters and planters may do a better job or be slightly tweaked from their predecessors, the US$250,000 combine of today still cuts, threshes, and separates grain in essentially the same way it has always been done. However, technology is changing the way that humans operate the machines, as
computer monitoring systems,
GPS locators, and self-steer programs allow the most advanced tractors and implements to be more precise and less wasteful in the use of fuel, seed, or fertilizer. In the foreseeable future, some agricultural machines will be capable of driving themselves, using GPS
maps and
electronic sensors. Even more
esoteric are the new areas of
nanotechnology and
genetic engineering, where
submicroscopic devices and
biological processes, respectively, are being used as machines to perform agricultural tasks in unusual new ways.
Agriculture may be one of the oldest professions, but the development and use of machinery has made the job title of
farmer a rarity. Instead of every person having to work to provide food for themselves, less than 2% of the U.S.
population today works in agriculture, yet that 2% provides considerably more food than the other 98% can eat. It is estimated that at the turn of the
20th century, one farmer in the U.S. could feed 25 people, where today, that ratio is 1:130 (in a modern grain farm, a single farmer can produce cereal to feed over a thousand people). With continuing advances in agricultural machinery, the role of the farmer will become increasingly specialized and rare.
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