Agricultural Machinery

Agricultural Machinery

Agricultural Equipment

Introduction

Agriculture has been around since prehistoric times then became one of today's most important key factors that affect the global economy. During the early days when people newly diverted from hunting to harvesting crops, they probably were farming with their bare hands due to the lack of equipment. With the technological advancement such as transportation which paved the way for the agricultural products to be transported around the world resulting to increase in demand, agricultural machinery and techniques have been developed in order to be more production and cost efficient.

Development

So what exactly is agriculture? It is cultivation of crops or animals that are eaten or used for other purposes to sustain life. Agriculture, which can also be referred to as farming, was a key factor in the development of human civilizations. In the olden times, almost every member of a family worked on the farm and they are required to work intensively due to the lack of technology. Farming products to be harvested were only sufficient enough for the family to sustain. Initially, farmers would use cattle to plough the land and plant seeds by hand. As steam powered engines were invented, they replaced horses or cattle that were used for pulling farming equipment and thus increasing efficiency.

As technologies developed, farmers bought new faming equipment to cut cost and increase productivity. Today, there are agricultural equipment for every type of farming in any climate and these machineries are continuing to develop.

Types of Agricultural Equipment

Modern technology allows farmer to harvest larger acres of land. The most common and oldest agricultural machinery used in harvesting crops on a fertile soil is a tractor. In its initial stages, a tractor was used for simple operations such as ploughing, pulling equipment on the fertile soil to flatten it for farming, and even planting of seeds. As more sophisticated technology develops, tractors are now able to perform activities that previously they could not. Some tractors now come with GPS systems installed in them to guide the user. Also, some have auto steer functions that help the farmer in saving fuel and cutting costs. Many other equipment have been developed that can be attached to a tractor to aid the different processes of farming.

Before, tractors were the only machine used in the harvesting of crops. Now they have been replaced with combines that harvest crops such as wheat, oat, barley or corn. The name of these machines is derived from the fact that they combine three harvesting processes of reaping, threshing and winnowing into a single process. Combines have also developed throughout as now they come with auto steer laser guided systems and air-conditioned cabins.

Modern day farming has advanced so much that in places such as Singapore, where there is not a lot of available space for farming, farmers have adopted hydroponics. This method involves the cultivation of crops such as lettuce in a controlled environment without the use of soil. Nutrients and other minerals are provided to the crops through controlled technological systems. The benefit of such form of agriculture is that farmers can cultivate large quantities of crops in a limited space. This is similar to farming fishes, chickens or other animals in a controlled environment.

Animal farms have also gone through great advancement and used sophisticated technology to get high volume of output while involving low input. For example, cattle farms can be milked at the same time with the use of machines. This practice results to rise in efficiency and decrease in labor cost. Because of the advantages of agricultural equipment, many farmers now prefer to use machineries to aid their farming procedures.



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