Importance of Machinery to Agriculture

The importance of machines in agriculture cannot be overstated. It is a still-evolving partnership of science and technology.

New way

Machines help agriculture provide wholesome, low cost food to millions. The apparent next step is to integrate new technology into agriculture machines.

Robots

Robots specific to agriculture are already being used in harvesting, weeding, disease analysis and spraying, sheep shearing and many other processes (Reference 1).

Dairy robots

Robot milking machines decrease the human interface in the process. The robot determines when a cow is ready to be milked, and starts and stops the process. Production data is kept in memory for future use. These systems maximize the long-term value of each cow and reduce the cost of milk production.

Computers

An Ohio State University group has studied computer applications in agricultural production. They found 60 percent of farmers in central Ohio were using computer-guided machines with online, real time analysis and control capabilities. Soil analysis and fertilizer application control were the uses cited most often (Reference 2).

Machinery Investment

Thirteen percent of expenditures in crop production and 9 percent of farm assets are in machinery. The 2008 gross cash income from US agricultural production of $351 billion is made possible by the $34 billion investment farmers have made in agricultural machinery (Reference 3).

References

• An Introduction to Agricultural Robots
• "Adoption and Use of Precision Farming Technologies"
• USDA Economics, Statistics and Marketing System