Agriculture Mechanization – An Overview

HARVESTER: This dextrous machine is used to harvest variety of grain crops like wheat, oats and corn.
They are like tractors but dedicated to harvesting rather than cultivation or planting. With a couple of
improvisations, this machine now comes with grain platforms and unloading corn crib for better
productivity. Modern versions are highly efficient with cutting edge technology allowing advanced
control and monitoring. They make threshing, separating as well as cleaning very cool and easy.
PLOWS: This farm implement is used for initial cultivation to loosen the soil in preparation for sowing
seed or planting by breaking the soil and cutting a furrow. Numerous advances later, the plow has made
a shift from a single plow to two or more plows fastened together, yielding more productivity for the
same amount of effort. And, with the help of tractors, the pulling of the plows was made easier. Some of
the major plows used in the United States are the chisel plows, breaking/bottom plows and cultivating
plows.
There are a whole set of other machine and implements that are relevant to agricultural farming in the
United States including rotary tillers, mowers, grading machines, tipping trailer, hay handler, grain
auger, grain dryer, hay balers and many more that have changed the whole game when it comes to
farming.
Advantages of Farm Mechanization
Machines can do a lot of the things that humans can only dream of and this move towards
mechanisation, especially in agriculture, is built to last. Therefore it’s great to understand the good that
is coming out of it. Some of the advantages that it has brought with it is:
Increase in production: It’s no secret that use of farm implements would be directly proportional to the
increase in productivity, output and speed of the work. Increased farm productivity leads to increased
margins. Substituting manual labour and animal power has considerably reduced the efforts of the
farmers whereby the machine is now doing everything all day without any rest.
Lower cost of work: Mechanisation has increased the yield of land per unit of area, but at what cost?
Initial cost of the machine plus the cost of a tank of the fuel, with minimum utilisation of human labour.
What’s even better is when the farmers make the choice to buy these implements on rent, this even
further reduces the cost of production.
Reduction in the production time: When the machines do all the work and reduce human labour, it
saves plenty of time. Machines do a great job on the field giving results quickly and rapidly. A lot of work
is done with less manual labour, saving costs and allowing the workers to be employed somewhere else.
Better Farm Management: Time saved in production gives the farmer ample time to better manage the
farms. With mechanisation farmers can not only manage their farms better but they can also tend to
larger area of farm land. This has led to higher efficiency and production capacity.