Agricultural machinery

Agricultural machinery refers to machines, vehicles, and tools used in farming or other agriculture. There are many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractors and the tools they pull or use. Machinery is used in both organic and nonorganic farming. Since the start of mechanised agriculture, these tools have been important for helping feed the world.

Agricultural machinery is part of bigger farming automation technologies. This includes more advanced digital tools and agricultural robotics. Robots can help with some farming tasks, but most machinery today mainly helps people do their work, with humans still making the decisions.

History

Industrial Revolution

When the Industrial Revolution began, farming changed a lot. Machines could cut grain instead of doing it by hand with a sharp blade. Special machines called threshing machines could separate seeds from the plants. The first tractors started appearing in the late 1800s.

Steam power

At first, animals like oxen provided the power for farming machines. Then, steam power was invented, leading to machines that could move on their own, called traction engines. These steam engines did heavy work that oxen used to do and could also power other machines using a pulley and a long belt.

Internal combustion engines

Later, internal combustion engines—first using petrol and then diesel—became the main power source for new tractors. These engines helped create the self-moving combine harvester, which could cut, separate, and collect grain all in one go while moving through the field.

Agricultural machinery types

Tractors

Tractors are important on most farms. They push or pull special machines called implements that help with farming. Some implements prepare the soil for planting. One well-known implement is the plow. Today, other tools are often used instead.

Combines

A combine is a big machine that can harvest many types of grain crops, like wheat, rice, and corn. It does several jobs at once, making harvesting faster and easier.

Planters

Planters are a common type of seeder. They space out seeds evenly in rows. Some crops are planted using drills. There are also machines that move small plants from one place to another.

Sprayers

After planting, sprayers can be used to put liquid fertilizer or other products on the crops.

Balers and other agriculture implements

Hay balers can pack grass or alfalfa into neat bundles. There are also machines for watering crops. Vehicles like trucks, airplanes, and helicopters can also be used on farms.

New technology and the future

Main articles: Digital agriculture and Precision agriculture

Farming tools and machines have stayed mostly the same for a hundred years. Today’s machines still work like older ones, but new technology is changing how they are used. Computers, GPS, and self-steering help tractors and tools work better and use less fuel, seed, or fertilizer. In the future, there might be tractors that drive themselves using maps and sensors.

Agricultural automation

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) says agricultural automation uses machines and tools to help with farming. This makes farming easier and more exact. Farming has changed from hand tools to animals, then to machines, and now to digital tools. Today, machines can do many jobs by themselves, like ploughing, planting, and watering crops. With new technology, even decisions about crops can be made automatically. For example, robots can pick and plant crops, and drones can fly over fields to gather information. Tractors can also drive themselves to plant seeds.

A report from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) found that more than half of some crops in the United States, like corn and soybeans, are planted using systems that guide machines automatically. These systems only need a farmer watching over them.

Open source agricultural equipment

Some farmers find it hard to fix modern farming tools because companies often do not allow farmers to repair or adjust their machines. In 2015, a change was made to allow farmers to inspect and adjust the software in vehicles, including farm machines.

The Open Source Agriculture movement includes groups like Farm Labs in Europe and l'Atelier Paysan in France, which teaches farmers to build and repair their tools. In the United States, the MIT Media Lab’s Open Agriculture Initiative works on creating open technologies for farming. This includes the Personal Food Computer, a project that uses robots to control conditions inside a special chamber for growing plants. It also develops Open Phenom, a tool that shares information about how plants grow under different conditions.

Manufacturers

Many companies make machines and tools for farmers. Some big names today include AGCO, Case IH, Claas, CNH Industrial, Deutz-Fahr, Fendt, Iseki, JCB, John Deere, Kubota, Lamborghini Trattori, Landini, Lindner, LS Mtron, Mahindra Tractors, Massey Ferguson, McCormick Tractors, Minsk Tractor Works, Mitsubishi Agricultural Machinery, New Holland Agriculture, SAME, Steyr, TAFE, TYM, Ursus SA, Valpadana, Valtra, Versatile, Yanmar, YTO Group, and Zetor.

In the past, other companies like Allis-Chalmers, Case Corporation, Ferguson-Brown Company, Fiat Trattori, Ford, International Harvester, Leyland Tractors, and Massey-Harris also made farming machines.