MECHANIZED FARMING/AGRICULTURE

Mechanized agriculture is the process of using agricultural machinery to mechanize the work of agriculture, greatly increasing farm worker productivity. In modern times, powered
machinery has replaced many
jobs formerly carried out by men
or animals such as oxen, horses and mules. The history of agriculture contains many examples of tool use, but
only in recent time has the high
rate of machine use been at such a
level. The first pervasive mechanization
of agriculture came with the
introduction of the plough, usually powered by animals. It
was invented in ancient
Mesopotamia. Current mechanized agriculture
includes the use of Tractors,
trucks, combine harvesters,
airplanes (crop dusters),
helicopters, and other vehicles.
Modern farms even sometimes use computers in conjunction with satellite imagery and GPS guidance to increase yields. See: List of agricultural machinery Mechanization was one of the
factors responsible for
urbanization and industrial
economies. Besides improving
production efficiency,
mechanization encourages large scale production and improves the
quality of farm produce. On the
other hand, it displaces unskilled
farm labor, causes environmental
pollution, deforestation and
erosion. History A reaper at Woolbrook, New South Wales Main article: Productivity improving technologies
(historical) Threshing machine in 1881. Steam engines were also used to power threshing machines. Today both reaping and threshing are done with a combine harvester. Jethro Tull's seed drill (ca. 1701) was a mechanical seed spacing
and depth placing device that
increased crop yields and saved
seed. It was an important factor in
the British Agricultural Revolution.[1] Cotton picker at work. The first successful models were introduced in the mid 1940s and each could do the work of 50 hand pickers. Since the beginning of agriculture
threshing was done by hand with
a flail, requiring a great deal of labor. The threshing machine, which was invented in 1794 but
not widely used for several more
decades, simplified the operation
and allowed the use of animal
power. Before the invention of the grain cradle (ca. 1790) an able bodied laborer could reap about one
quarter acre of wheat in a day
using a sickle. It was estimated
that for each of Cyrus McCormick's
horse pulled reapers (ca. 1830s)
freed up five men for military service in the U.S. Civil War.[2] Later innovations included raking
and binding machines. By 1890
two men and two horses could
cut, rake and bind 20 acres of wheat per day.[3] In the 1880s the reaper and
threshing machine were combined
into the combine harvester. These machines required large teams of
horses or mules to pull. Steam power was applied to
threshing machines in the late
19th century. There were steam
engines that moved around on
wheels under their own power for
supplying temporary power to stationary threshing machines.
These were called road engines,
and Henry Ford seeing one as a
boy was inspired to build an automobile.[4] With internal combustion came
the first modern tractors in the
early 1900s, becoming more
popular after the Fordson tractor (ca. 1917). At first reapers and
combine harvesters were pulled
by tractors, but in the 1930s self
powered combines were developed.[5] (Link to a chapter on agricultural mechanization in
the 20th Century at reference) The horse population in the U.S.
began to decline in the 1920s after
the conversion of agriculture and
transportation to internal
combustion. Peak tractor sales in the U.S. were around 1950.[6] In addition to saving labor, this freed
up much land previously used for supporting draft animals.[7] The greatest period of growth in
agricultural productivity in the
U.S. was from the 1940s to the
1970s, during which time
agriculture was benefiting from
internal combustion powered tractors and combine harvesters, chemical fertilizers and the green revolution.[8] References 1. ^ McNeil, Ian (1990). An Encyclopedia of the History of
Technology. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-14792-1. 2. ^ Hounshell, David A. (1984), From the American System to
Mass Production, 1800-1932: The
Development of Manufacturing
Technology in the United States,
Baltimore, Maryland: Johns
Hopkins University Press, ISBN 978-0-8018-2975-8, LCCN 83016269 3. ^ Wells, David A. (1891). Recent Economic Changes and Their
Effect on Production and
Distribution of Wealth and Well- Being of Society . New York: D. Appleton and Co.. ISBN 0-543-72474-3. 4. ^ Ford, Henry; Samuel (1922). My Life and Work: An autobiography of Henry Ford 5. ^ Constable, George; Somerville, Bob (2003). A Century of Innovation: Twenty Engineering
Achievements That
Transformed Our Lives, Chapter 7, Agricultural Mechanization . Washington, DC: Joseph Henry
Press. ISBN 0-309-08908-5. 6. ^ White, William J.. "Economic History of Tractors in the United States" 7. ^ Ayres, R. U.; Ayres, L. W.; Warr, B. (2002). Exergy, Power and Work in the U. S. Economy
1900-1998, Insead’s Center For
the Management of
Environmental Resources, 2002/52/EPS/CMER 8. ^ Moore, Stephen; Simon, Julian (Dec. 15, 1999). The Greatest Century That Ever Was: 25
Miraculous Trends of the last
100 Years, The Cato Institute: Policy Analysis, No. 364 Fig 13.

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