Agricultural technology refers to machinery used in farming operations like tilling soil, planting, irrigating, harvesting, and processing crops. Key machines discussed include tractors, which are versatile workhorses that pull implements like plows, planters, sprayers and balers. Irrigation technology allows farmers to access groundwater through pumps or low-cost methods like treadle pumps. The introduction of machinery like combines, tractors, and irrigation equipment has dramatically increased farm output and changed global food production.

1. Agrotechnology: tools
and techniques

2. AGROTECHNOLOGY:
Agricultural technology refers to technology for the production
of machines used on a farm to help with farming. Agricultural machines
have been designed for practically every stage of the agricultural process.
They include machines for tilling the soil, planting seeds, irrigating the
land, cultivating crops, protecting them from pests and weeds, harvesting,
threshing grain, livestock feeding, and sorting and packaging the products
Agricultural technology is among the most revolutionary and impactful
areas of modern technology, driven by the fundamental need for food and
for feeding an ever-growing population. It has opened an era in which
powered machinery does the work formerly performed by people and
animals (such as oxen and horses).
These machines have massively increased farm output and dramatically
changed the way people are employed and produce food worldwide. A
well-known example of agricultural machinery is the tractor. Currently,
mechanized agriculture also involves the use of airplanes and helicopters.

3. Types of machinery
Combines might have taken the harvesting job away from tractors, but
tractors still do the majority of work on a modern farm. They are used to pull
implements that till the ground, plant seed, or perform a number of other
tasks.
Tillage implements prepare the soil for planting by loosening the soil and
killing weeds or competing plants. The best-known is the plow, the ancient
implement that was upgraded in 1838 by a man named John Deere. Plows are
actually used less frequently in the United States today, with offset disks
used instead to turn over the soil and chisels used to gain the depth needed
to retain moisture.
The most common type of seeder, called a planter, spaces seeds out equally
in long rows that are usually two to three feet apart. Some crops are planted
by drills, which put out much more seed in rows less than a foot apart,
blanketing the field with crops. Transplanters fully or partially automate the
task of transplanting seedlings to the field. With the widespread use of plastic
mulch, plastic mulch layers, transplanters, and seeders lay down long rows
of plastic and plant through them automatically.

4. After planting, other implements can be used to remove weeds from
between rows, or to spread fertilizer and pesticides. Hay balers can be
used to tightly package grass or alfalfa into a storable form for the
winter months.
Modern irrigation also relies on a great deal of machinery. A variety of
engines, pumps and other specialized gear is used to
provide water quickly and in high volumes to large areas of land.
Similar types of equipment can be used to
deliver fertilizers and pesticides.
Besides the tractor, a variety of vehicles have been adapted for use in
various aspects of farming, including trucks, airplanes, and helicopters,
for everything from transporting crops and making equipment mobile
to aerial spraying and livestock herd management.

5. Only with mass production being aided by modern technology and intensive
marketing can the agriculturist exploit both the domestic market as well as the
international market to the fullest extent. The volume of production depends
not only on the capital investments and marketing strategies but also on the
technical capacity used during the production and processing stage.
In fact, technology has come to play a very significant role even in marketing
these days. Technology is absolutely critical to the agro industry be it at the
primary (production), secondary (processing) or tertiary (marketing and
packaging) stage. Experts have always suggested that agricultural technology
could play a vital role in addressing the issues and concerns relating to the
conservation and management of rural resources.

6. Plough (also 'plow')
Ploughing is the first preparation for planting.
The plough is primarily designed to prepare the ground for
cultivation by turning it over, thus burying the weeds and loosening
the earth. It is generally agreed by historians that the earliest
implement used for cultivation was probably a crude pointed bent
stick or tree branch which was used to stir the soil surface. In effect,
a hand held hoe was used in which the user scratched at the earth to
form a tilth where corn could be sown. Over a period of time, these
hand held hoes soon developed into simple ploughs. These
primitive ploughs were eventually pulled by animals like oxen,
camels and even elephants. Animals enabled the land to be tilled
more easily and faster; thus more food was produced. The credit for
this innovation goes to the Egyptians. These ploughs had different
modifications in different parts of the world.

7. Harrow
After ploughing, other implements were used. The harrow was
necessary to smoothen the soil in areas where the soil remained rough.
It consists of a wooden or metal framework bearing metal disks, teeth,
or sharp projecting points, called tines, which is dragged over plowed
land to crush the clods of earth and level the soil. Harrows are also used
to uproot weeds, aerate the soil, and cover seeds.
In the beginning the harrows were as simple as a tree branch but the
harrow became more sophisticated after the Industrial Revolution. By
the 1790s, two distinct types of harrows were in use: the square and the
triangle, or "A" frame. The square harrow was used on old fields that
were free of large obstructions, while the triangular frame was used on
freshly ploughed fields. These models had wooden frames with wood or
iron teeth.
In modern times, harrows are of varied types. Some are simply dragged
behind a tractor or draft animal; some are suspended on wheels; many
have levers to adjust the depth of the cut

8. Seed Driller
Seed drill was an innovation that allowed seeds to be easily planted deep into
the earth instead of on top where the majority were washed away or otherwise
lost. The machine was pulled by horses and consisted of rotating drills or
runners that planted seeds at a set depth.
Horse Hoe
It is horse-drawn machine which loosened the soil and killed weeds.
Reaper
The first reapers cut the standing grain and, with a revolving reel, sweeping it
onto a platform from which it was raked off into piles by a man walking
alongside. The reaper could thus harvest more grain than five men using the
earlier cradles.
The reaper was eventually replaced by the self-propelled combine, operated by
one man, which cuts, gathers, threshes, and sacks the grain mechanically. The
reaper was the first step in a transition from hand labor to the mechanized
farming of today.

9. Threshing Machines
Prior to the threshing machines farmers used an implement called 'flail' to simply beat the
grain with sticks or ropes to knock the seeds from the stalks. But this was a back-breaking
work and was of low productivity. Threshing machines were designed for rapidly removing
the husks from grain.
With improvements in design and efficiency, threshing machines became
progressively more common and the hand flail was gradually consigned to history. The
machines could be driven by wind or water power, or by horses, but the steam powered
thresher became the most familiar sight. They were eventually replaced in the middle
decades of the twentieth century by the combine harvester which both harvests and
threshes the crop in the field in a single operation.
Tractor
Tractor is a vehicle particularly crafted to exert traction at slow speeds, for the purposes of
hauling a trailer or machinery used in agriculture. The versatility of tractor is with respect
to its attachments that it supports. The more the options for connecting attachments to the
tractor, the higher is the cost. The most common tractor attachments include front end
loaders, mowers, box blades, spreaders, tillers, plows, trailers and backhoes for plowing,
tilling, disking, harrowing, planting, and similar tasks. Most tractor attachments are
interchangeable so they can be used with different machines. The first tractors were steam-
powered ploughing engines, followed by Gasoline Powered Tractors

10. Irrigation Technology
Water is undoubtedly the sine qua non for all irrigation activities,
worldwide. Particularly in India, an unpredictable monsoon coupled with
an increasing demand for food production (at the self-sustenance as well as
commercial levels) has induced an imperative need for irrigation options
other than those that are either extremely laborious and time consuming or
simply too expensive for the small and marginal farmer.
Electric and diesel pumps can be used to extract groundwater for irrigating
any large acres of land; however, some cost effective technologies that are
being availed by a major section of farmers are as follows:-
Treadle Pump
It is a foot operated water lifting device that can irrigate small plots of land
of small holders in regions that have higher water table (not deeper than 25
feet). A treadle pump is a low cost system, simple in design and easily
manageable; it appropriately answers the irrigation need for the small
farmers.

11. Drip Irrigation Technology
Drip irrigation is a water-saving technology which enables slow and regular
application of water directly to the roots of the plants through a network of
economically designed plastic pipes and low discharge emitters. It maximizes
crop productivity through increase in the crop yield and also the area for
cultivation, and protects the environment through conserving soil, water and
fertilizer resources, thus increasing the farmer income. Currently, this is being
promoted by the Government of India in the form of kits in the water scarce
regions in India. They are:
Drum Kit
Bucket Kit
Family Nutrition Kit
Customised Systems

12.  The impact of the use of these above mentioned
irrigation technology can be summed up as follows:-
Frees the farmer from the limitations of rain fed farming
Raises the capacity of the farmer to grow crops in both winter and
summer
Leads to land augmentation - With the use of the above mentioned
technologies the farmers can cultivate all the year round thus increasing
their cropping intensity to 200-300% and never leave their land fallow
Easy to use.