Mechanised agriculture

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A cotton picker at work. The first successful models were introduced in the mid-1940s and each could do the work of 50 hand pickers. Baumwoll-Erntemaschine auf Feld.jpeg
A cotton picker at work. The first successful models were introduced in the mid-1940s and each could do the work of 50 hand pickers.

Mechanised agriculture or agricultural mechanization is the use of machinery and equipment, ranging from simple and basic hand tools to more sophisticated, motorized equipment and machinery, to perform agricultural operations. [1] In modern times, powered machinery has replaced many farm task formerly carried out by manual labour or by working animals such as oxen, horses and mules.

Contents

The entire history of agriculture contains many examples of the use of tools, such as the hoe and the plough. The ongoing integration of machines since the Industrial Revolution has allowed farming to become much less labour-intensive.

Agricultural mechanization is part of this technological evolution of agricultural automation. [2] It can be summarized as a progressive move from manual tools to animal traction, to motorized mechanization, to digital equipment and finally, to robotics with artificial intelligence (AI). [3] These advances can raise productivity and allow for more careful crop, livestock, aquaculture and forestry management; provide better working conditions; improve incomes; reduce the workload of farming; and generate new rural entrepreneurial opportunities. [3]

Current mechanised agriculture includes the use of tractors, trucks, combine harvesters, countless types of farm implements, aeroplanes and helicopters (for aerial application), and other vehicles. Precision agriculture even uses computers in conjunction with satellite imagery and satellite navigation (GPS guidance) to increase yields. New digital equipment is increasingly complementing, or even superseding, motorized machines to make diagnosis and decision-making automatic. [2]

Mechanisation was one of the large factors responsible for urbanisation and industrial economies. Besides improving production efficiency, mechanisation encourages large scale production and sometimes can improve the quality of farm produce. On the other hand, it can cause environmental degradation (such as pollution, deforestation, and soil erosion), especially if it is applied shortsightedly rather than holistically.

History

A reaper at Woolbrook, New South Wales Woolbrook (4).JPG
A reaper at Woolbrook, New South Wales
Threshing machine in 1881. Steam engines were also used to power threshing machines. Today both reaping and threshing are done with a combine harvester. Batteuse 1881.jpg
Threshing machine in 1881. Steam engines were also used to power threshing machines. Today both reaping and threshing are done with a combine harvester.
"Better and cheaper than horses" was the theme of many advertisements of the 1910s through 1930s. Detroit Tractor advert in Gas Power 1914-09.png
"Better and cheaper than horses" was the theme of many advertisements of the 1910s through 1930s.
"This farm-hand never tires or asks for pay": A step on the road of agricultural mechanisation with a wire-guided gasoline-powered cultivator in 1919. Labor-saving synmotor in Popular Science 1919.png
"This farm-hand never tires or asks for pay": A step on the road of agricultural mechanisation with a wire-guided gasoline-powered cultivator in 1919.

Jethro Tull's seed drill (c. 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. [4]

Since the beginning of agriculture threshing was done by hand with a flail, requiring a great deal of labour. 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 labourer could reap about one quarter acre of wheat in a day using a sickle. It was estimated that each of Cyrus McCormick's horse-pulled reapers (ca. 1830s) freed up five men for military service in the US Civil War. [5] 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. [6]

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. [7]

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 teams of horses or tractors, but in the 1930s self powered combines were developed. [8]

Advertising for motorised equipment in farm journals during this era did its best to compete against horse-drawn methods with economic arguments, extolling common themes such as that a tractor "eats only when it works", that one tractor could replace many horses, and that mechanisation could allow one man to get more work done per day than he ever had before. The horse population in the US began to decline in the 1920s after the conversion of agriculture and transportation to internal combustion. Peak tractor sales in the US were around 1950. [9] In addition to saving labour, this freed up much land previously used for supporting draft animals. [10] The greatest period of growth in agricultural productivity in the US was from the 1940s to the 1970s, during which time agriculture was benefiting from internal combustion powered tractors and combine harvesters, chemical fertilisers and the green revolution. [11]

Although U.S. farmers of corn, wheat, soy, and other commodity crops had replaced most of their workers with harvesting machines and combines by the 1950s enabling them to efficiently cut and gather grains, growers of produce continued to rely on human pickers to avoid the bruising of the product in order to maintain the blemish-free appearance demanded by customers. [12] The continuous supply of undocumented workers from Latin America that harvest the crops for low wages further suppressed the need for mechanisation. As the number of undocumented workers has continued to decline since reaching its peak in 2007 due to increased border patrols and an improving Mexican economy, the industry is increasing the use of mechanisation. [12] Proponents argue that mechanisation will boost productivity and help to maintain low food prices while farm worker advocates assert that it will eliminate jobs and will give an advantage to large growers who are able to afford the required equipment. [12]

Motorized mechanization has substantially expanded at global level, although it has been unevenly and inadequately adopted particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. [2] Mechanization is limited to a range of operations including harvesting and weeding and is rarely used for fruit and vegetable production across the globe. [13]

Extensive adoption started in the United States of America, where tractors replaced about 24 million draught animals between 1910 and 1960 and become the main source of farm power. [14] United Kingdom first started using tractors in the 1930s, but agricultural transformation in Japan and some European countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Spain and former Yugoslavia) did not take place until about 1955. Thereafter, the adoption of motorized mechanization took place very quickly, completely superseding animal traction. [15] Using tractors as farm power enabled, and even triggered, innovations in other agricultural machinery and equipment that greatly eased the toil associated with agriculture and allowed farmers to carry out tasks more quckly. [16] At a later stage, motorized machinery also increased in many Asian and Latin American countries. [13]

Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region where adoption of motorized mechanization has not progressed over the past decades. [17] [18] A study in 11 countries proves this low level of mechanization in the region, finding that only 18 percent of the sampled households have access to tractor-powered appliances. The remaining ones make use of either simple hand-held tools (48 percent) or animal-powered equipment (33 percent). [18]

Employment impact

Since at least the early nineteenth century there have been concerns over the possible negative socioeconomic impacts of labour-saving technological change, particularly job displacement resulting in unemployment. [2] However, fears that automation increases labour productivity to the extent that it causes massive unemployment are not supported by historical realities. [2] Instead, innovation and incorporation of labour-saving technologies tends to take long, and automation of one task often spurs increases in the need for workers to perform other jobs. [2]  The direct impact of automation on employment will be determined by the factors leading to its adoption. [19]

If rising wages and labour scarcities drive the adoption of automation then it is not likely to create unemployment. [19] Automation can also stimulate agricultural employment. For example, it can enable farms to increase their production following growing food demand. Agricultural automation is part of the structural transformation of societies through which increased agricultural labour productivity gradually releases agricultural workers, giving them the opportunity to take new jobs in other sectors, including industry and services. [2] On the other hand, automation that is forcibly promoted, such as through government subsidies, could cause rising unemployment and falling or stagnant wages. [19]

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) advises against governments implementing distortive subsidies for automation because doing so risks increasing unemployment. [2] FAO also advises against restricting automation on the assumption that this will save jobs and incomes, [3] because it risks making agriculture less competitive and productive. [2] Instead, the recommendation is to concentrate on creating an enabling environment to adopt automation – particularly by small-scale agricultural producers, women and youth – while making social protection available to least skilled workers, who are more likely to lose their jobs during the transition. [3]

Applications

Preparing land for planting

Seed drilling, planting

It is done by the seed drill. The plantation of seeds depends upon the season.

Weeding, crop spraying

Harvesting

A tractor towing a baler makes hay bales in a field in Germany. Dulmen, Umland, Feld -- 2012 -- 7430.jpg
A tractor towing a baler makes hay bales in a field in Germany.

Asparagus are presently harvested by hand with labor costs at 71% of production costs and 44% of selling costs. [20] Asparagus is a difficult crop to harvest since each spear matures at a different speed making it difficult to achieve a uniform harvest. [21] A prototype asparagus harvesting machine –using a light-beam sensor to identify the taller spears –is expected to be available for commercial use. [21]

Mechanization of Maine's blueberry industry has reduced the number of migrant workers required from 5,000 in 2005 to 1,500 in 2015 even though production has increased from 50 to 60 million pounds per year in 2005 to 90 million pounds in 2015. [22]

As of 2014, prototype chili pepper harvesters are being tested by New Mexico State University. The New Mexico green chile crop is currently hand-picked entirely by field workers [23] as chili pods tend to bruise easily. [24] The first commercial application commenced in 2015. The equipment is expected to increase yield per acre and help to offset a sharp decline in acreage planted due to the lack of available labour and drought conditions. [25] [26]

As of 2010, approximately 10% of the processing orange acreage in Florida is harvested mechanically, mainly with citrus canopy shaker machines. Mechanization has progressed slowly due to the uncertainty of future economic benefits due to competition from Brazil and the transitory damage to orange trees when they are harvested. [27]

There has been an ongoing transition to mechanical harvesting of cling peaches (mostly used in canning) where the cost of labor is 70 percent of a grower's direct costs. In 2016, 12 percent of the cling peach tonnage from Yuba County and Sutter County in California will be mechanically harvested. [28] Fresh peaches destined for direct customer sales must still be hand-picked.

As of 2007, mechanized harvesting of raisins is at 45%; however the rate has slowed due to high raisin demand and prices making the conversion away from hand labour less urgent. [29] A new strain of grape developed by the USDA that drys on the vine and is easily harvested mechanically is expected to reduce the demand for labour. [30]

Strawberries are a high cost-high value crop with the economics supporting mechanization. In 2005, picking and hauling costs were estimated at $594 per ton or 51% of the total grower cost. However, the delicate nature of fruit make it an unlikely candidate for mechanization in the near future. [27] A strawberry harvester developed by Shibuya Seiki and unveiled in Japan in 2013 is able to pick a strawberry every eight seconds. The robot identifies which strawberries are ready to pick by using three separate cameras and then once identified as ready, a mechanized arm snips the fruit free and gently places it in a basket. The robot moves on rails between the rows of strawberries which are generally contained within elevated greenhouses. The machine costs 5 million yen. [31] A new strawberry harvester made by Agrobot that will harvest strawberries on raised, hydroponic beds using 60 robotic arms is expected to be released in 2016. [12] [ needs update ]

Mechanical harvesting of tomatoes started in 1965 and as of 2010, nearly all processing tomatoes are mechanically harvested. [27] As of 2010, 95% of the US processed tomato crop is produced in California. [27] Although fresh market tomatoes have substantial hand harvesting costs (in 2007, the costs of hand picking and hauling were $86 per ton which is 19% of total grower cost), packing and selling costs were more of a concern (at 44% of total grower cost) making it likely that cost saving efforts would be applied there. [27]

According to a 1977 report by the California Agrarian Action Project, during the summer of 1976 in California, many harvest machines had been equipped with a photo-electric scanner that sorted out green tomatoes among the ripe red ones using infrared lights and colour sensors. It worked in lieu of 5,000 hand harvesters causing displacement of innumerable farm labourers as well as wage cuts and shorter work periods. Migrant workers were hit the hardest. [32] To withstand the rigour of the machines, new crop varieties were bred to match the automated pickers. UC Davis Professor G.C. Hanna propagated a thick-skinned tomato called VF-145. But even still, millions were damaged with impact cracks and university breeders produced a tougher and juiceless "square round" tomato. Small farms were of insufficient size to obtain financing to purchase the equipment and within 10 years, 85% of the state's 4,000 cannery tomato farmers were out of the business. This led to a concentrated tomato industry in California that "now packed 85% of the nation’s tomato products". The monoculture fields fostered rapid pest growth, requiring the use of "more than four million pounds of pesticides each year" which greatly affected the health of the soil, the farm workers, and possibly the customers. [32]

See also

Sources

Definition of Free Cultural Works logo notext.svg  This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0( license statement/permission ). Text taken from In Brief to The State of Food and Agriculture 2022 – Leveraging automation in agriculture for transforming agrifood systems​ , FAO, FAO.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agriculture</span> Cultivation of plants and animals to provide useful products

Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, fisheries, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to live in cities. While humans started gathering grains at least 105,000 years ago, nascent farmers only began planting them around 11,500 years ago. Sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle were domesticated around 10,000 years ago. Plants were independently cultivated in at least 11 regions of the world. In the 20th century, industrial agriculture based on large-scale monocultures came to dominate agricultural output.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Threshing machine</span> Agricultural machine

A threshing machine or a thresher is a piece of farm equipment that separates grain seed from the stalks and husks. It does so by beating the plant to make the seeds fall out. Before such machines were developed, threshing was done by hand with flails: such hand threshing was very laborious and time-consuming, taking about one-quarter of agricultural labour by the 18th century. Mechanization of this process removed a substantial amount of drudgery from farm labour. The first threshing machine was invented circa 1786 by the Scottish engineer Andrew Meikle, and the subsequent adoption of such machines was one of the earlier examples of the mechanization of agriculture. During the 19th century, threshers and mechanical reapers and reaper-binders gradually became widespread and made grain production much less laborious.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Precision agriculture</span> Farming management strategy

Precision agriculture (PA) is a farming management strategy based on observing, measuring and responding to temporal and spatial variability to improve agricultural production sustainability. It is used in both crop and livestock production. Precision agriculture often employs technologies to automate agricultural operations, improving their diagnosis, decision-making or performing. The goal of precision agriculture research is to define a decision support system for whole farm management with the goal of optimizing returns on inputs while preserving resources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mechanization</span> Process of changing from working by hand or with animals to work with machinery

Mechanization is the process of changing from working largely or exclusively by hand or with animals to doing that work with machinery. In an early engineering text a machine is defined as follows:

Every machine is constructed for the purpose of performing certain mechanical operations, each of which supposes the existence of two other things besides the machine in question, namely, a moving power, and an object subject to the operation, which may be termed the work to be done. Machines, in fact, are interposed between the power and the work, for the purpose of adapting the one to the other.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Combine harvester</span> Machine that harvests grain crops

The modern combine harvester, or simply combine, is a machine designed to harvest a variety of grain crops. The name derives from its combining four separate harvesting operations—reaping, threshing, gathering, and winnowing—to a single process. Among the crops harvested with a combine are wheat, rice, oats, rye, barley, corn (maize), sorghum, millet, soybeans, flax (linseed), sunflowers and rapeseed. The separated straw, left lying on the field, comprises the stems and any remaining leaves of the crop with limited nutrients left in it: the straw is then either chopped, spread on the field and ploughed back in or baled for bedding and limited-feed for livestock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reaper</span> Harvesting machine

A reaper is a farm implement or person that reaps crops at harvest when they are ripe. Usually the crop involved is a cereal grass. The first documented reaping machines were Gallic reapers that were used in Roman times in what would become modern-day France. The Gallic reaper involved a comb which collected the heads, with an operator knocking the grain into a box for later threshing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harvest</span> Process of gathering mature crops from fields

Harvesting is the process of collecting plants, animals, or fish as food, especially the process of gathering mature crops, and "the harvest" also refers to the collected crops. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulses for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. On smaller farms with minimal mechanization, harvesting is the most labor-intensive activity of the growing season. On large mechanized farms, harvesting uses farm machinery, such as the combine harvester. Automation has increased the efficiency of both the seeding and harvesting processes. Specialized harvesting equipment, using conveyor belts for gentle gripping and mass transport, replaces the manual task of removing each seedling by hand. The term "harvesting" in general usage may include immediate postharvest handling, including cleaning, sorting, packing, and cooling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Market garden</span> Small consumer-oriented agriculture

A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumers and restaurants. The diversity of crops grown on a small area of land, typically from under 0.40 hectares to some hectares, or sometimes in greenhouses, distinguishes it from other types of farming. A market garden is sometimes called a truck farm in the USA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swather</span> Harvesting machine

A swather, or windrower, is a farm implement that cuts hay or small grain crops and forms them into a windrow for drying.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Case Corporation</span> American agricultural and construction equipment manufacturer

The Case Corporation was a manufacturer of agricultural machinery and construction equipment. Founded, in 1842, by Jerome Increase Case as the J. I. Case Threshing Machine Company, it operated under that name for most of a century. For another 66 years it was the J. I. Case Company, and was often called simply Case. In the late 19th century, Case was one of America's largest builders of steam engines, producing self-propelled portable engines, traction engines and steam tractors. It was a major producer of threshing machines and other harvesting equipment. The company also produced various machinery for the U.S. military. In the 20th century, Case was among the ten largest builders of farm tractors for many years. In the 1950s its construction equipment line became its primary focus, with agricultural business second.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agriculture in Mongolia</span>

Agriculture in Mongolia constitutes over 10% of Mongolia's annual gross domestic product and employs one-third of the labor force. However, the high altitude, extreme fluctuation in temperature, long winters, and low precipitation provides limited potential for agricultural development. The growing season is only 95 – 110 days. Because of Mongolia's harsh climate, it is unsuited to most cultivation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farmworker</span> Performs agricultural labor

A farmworker, farmhand or agricultural worker is someone employed for labor in agriculture. In labor law, the term "farmworker" is sometimes used more narrowly, applying only to a hired worker involved in agricultural production, including harvesting, but not to a worker in other on-farm jobs, such as picking fruit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agricultural robot</span> Robot deployed for agricultural purposes

An agricultural robot is a robot deployed for agricultural purposes. The main area of application of robots in agriculture today is at the harvesting stage. Emerging applications of robots or drones in agriculture include weed control, cloud seeding, planting seeds, harvesting, environmental monitoring and soil analysis. According to Verified Market Research, the agricultural robots market is expected to reach $11.58 billion by 2025.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intensive crop farming</span> Modern form of farming

Intensive crop farming is a modern industrialized form of crop farming. Intensive crop farming's methods include innovation in agricultural machinery, farming methods, genetic engineering technology, techniques for achieving economies of scale in production, the creation of new markets for consumption, patent protection of genetic information, and global trade. These methods are widespread in developed nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultivation of tobacco</span>

The cultivation of tobacco usually takes place annually. The tobacco is germinated in cold frames or hotbeds and then transplanted to the field until it matures. It is grown in warm climates with rich, well-drained soil. About 4.2 million hectares of tobacco were under cultivation worldwide in 2000, yielding over seven million tonnes of tobacco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agricultural engineering</span> Application of engineering for agricultural purposes

Agricultural engineering, also known as agricultural and biosystems engineering, is the field of study and application of engineering science and designs principles for agriculture purposes, combining the various disciplines of mechanical, civil, electrical, food science, environmental, software, and chemical engineering to improve the efficiency of farms and agribusiness enterprises as well as to ensure sustainability of natural and renewable resources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agricultural machinery</span> Machinery used in farming or other agriculture

Agricultural machinery relates to the mechanical structures and devices used in farming or other agriculture. There are many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractors and the countless kinds of farm implements that they tow or operate. Diverse arrays of equipment are used in both organic and nonorganic farming. Especially since the advent of mechanised agriculture, agricultural machinery is an indispensable part of how the world is fed. Agricultural machinery can be regarded as part of wider agricultural automation technologies, which includes the more advanced digital equipment and robotics. While agricultural robots have the potential to automate the three key steps involved in any agricultural operation, conventional motorized machinery is used principally to automate only the performing step where diagnosis and decision-making are conducted by humans based on observations and experience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal</span> Research center in Bhopal, India

The Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering (CIAE) is a higher seat of learning, research and development in the field of agricultural engineering, situated in the lake city of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. It is an autonomous body, an Indian Council of Agricultural Research subsidiary, under the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmer's Welfare, Government of India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agricultural machinery industry</span> Subsector of the industry

The agricultural machinery industry or agricultural engineering industry is the part of the industry, that produces and maintain tractors, agricultural machinery and agricultural implements used in farming or other agriculture. This branch is considered to be part of the machinery industry.

References

  1. ↑ Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization (PDF). Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 The State of Food and Agriculture 2022 − Leveraging agricultural automation for transforming agrifood systems. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 2022. doi:10.4060/cb9479en. ISBN   978-92-5-136043-9.
  3. 1 2 3 4 In Brief to The State of Food and Agriculture 2022 − Leveraging automation in agriculture for transforming agrifood systems. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 2022. doi:10.4060/cc2459en. ISBN   978-92-5-137005-6.
  4. ↑ McNeil, Ian (1990). An Encyclopedia of the History of Technology . London: Routledge. ISBN   0-415-14792-1.
  5. ↑ 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, OCLC   1104810110
  6. ↑ 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. RECENT ECONOMIC CHANGES AND THEIR EFFECT ON DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH AND WELL BEING OF SOCIETY WELLS.
  7. ↑ Ford, Henry; Samuel (1922). My Life and Work: An autobiography of Henry Ford.
  8. ↑ 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.[ page needed ]
  9. ↑ White, William J. "Economic History of Tractors in the United States". Archived from the original on 2013-10-24.
  10. ↑ Ayres, R. U.; Ayres, L. W.; Warr, B. (2002). Exergy, Power and Work in the U. S. Economy 1900-1998 (PDF) (Report). Insead's Center For the Management of Environmental Resources. 2002/52/EPS/CMER. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-07-05. Retrieved 2010-10-06.
  11. ↑ Moore, Stephen; Simon, Julian (Dec 15, 1999). The Greatest Century That Ever Was: 25 Miraculous Trends of the last 100 Years (PDF) (Report). The Cato Institute. Policy Analysis, No. 364.Fig 13.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Ilan Brat (April 23, 2015). "Robots Step Into New Planting, Harvesting Roles - Labor shortage spurs farmers to use robots for handling delicate tasks in the fresh-produce industry" . Wall Street Journal.
  13. 1 2 Xinshen Diao; Hiroyuki Takeshima; Xiaobo Zhang, eds. (2020). An evolving paradigm of agricultural mechanization development: How much can Africa learn from Asia? (PDF) (Report). doi:10.2499/9780896293809 . Retrieved 2022-12-23– via ebrary.ifpri.org.
  14. ↑ White, William J. (2001). "An Unsung Hero: The Farm Tractor's Contribution to Twentieth-Century United States Economic Growth". The Journal of Economic History. 61 (2): 493–496. doi:10.1017/S0022050701238108. S2CID   153995624.
  15. ↑ Binswanger, Hans (1986). "Agricultural mechanization: a comparative historical perspective". The World Bank Research Observer. 1 (1): 27–56. doi:10.1093/wbro/1.1.27 . Retrieved 2022-12-23.
  16. ↑ Mrema, G.; Soni, P.; Rolle, R.S. A Regional strategy for Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization. Sustainable Mechanization across Agri-Food Chains in Asia and the Pacific region (PDF). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
  17. ↑ Daum, Thomas; Birner, Regina (2020-09-01). "Agricultural mechanization in Africa: Myths, realities and an emerging research agenda". Global Food Security. 26: 100393. doi: 10.1016/j.gfs.2020.100393 . ISSN   2211-9124. S2CID   225280050.
  18. 1 2 Kirui, Oliver (2019-04-08). "The Agricultural Mechanization in Africa: Micro-Level Analysis of State Drivers and Effects". SSRN   3368103.
  19. 1 2 3 Charlton, D.; Hill, A.E.; Taylor, J.E. (2022). Automation and social impacts: winners and losers. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). doi:10.4060/cc2610en. ISBN   978-92-5-137074-2.
  20. ↑ Washington State University Extension - School of Economic Sciences: "Asparagus Production Economics" December 8, 2010
  21. 1 2 Vegetable Growers News: "Mechanical Asparagus Harvester Almost a Reality" December 21, 2009
  22. ↑ Fox Business News: "Machinery takes the place of migrants as Maine's blueberry harvest booms" September 06, 2015
  23. ↑ Diana Alba Soular (September 22, 2014). "Chile harvester gets a field test in NM". Albuquerque Journal.
  24. ↑ "Editorial: Trial could be a boon to chile farmers". Current Argus. July 31, 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-08-11.
  25. ↑ Carrie Jung (July 29, 2015). "New Mexico Researchers To Test Mechanized Green Chile Harvesting". KJZZ.
  26. ↑ Diana Alba Soular (July 25, 2015). "Experts: Machines could reverse declining New Mexico green chile acreage". Las Cruces Sun. Archived from the original on 2015-08-10.
  27. 1 2 3 4 5 University of California Davis Migration Files: "The Status of Labor-saving Mechanization in Fruits and Vegetables" By Wallace E. Huffman May 25, 2010
  28. ↑ Farm 2 ranch magazine: "Labor concerns lead peach growers to look to machines" August 18, 2016
  29. ↑ U. S. Produce Industry and Labor: Facing the Future in a Global Industry By Linda Calvin retrieved September 28, 2013
  30. ↑ Fresno Bee: "New raisin grape holds promise for central San Joaquin Valley growers" By Robert Rodriguez September 19, 2015
  31. ↑ Japan Times: "Latest robot can pick strawberry fields forever" September 26, 2013
  32. 1 2 "No Hands Touch the Land: Automating California Farms" (PDF). California Agrarian Action Project: 20–28. July 1977. Retrieved 2015-04-25.
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