| At our starting point, 100 years ago,
virtually all farmwork was done by a combination of working animals
(usually horses) and manual work by people. This was tremendously
slow, inefficient and expensive.
One estimate of the costs of cultivating a 10-hectare field (about
25 acres) in one day is as follows:-
This area would need 1,700 men with spades, 100 barrels of beer,
and cost about £ 34,000
Or it would need 25 sets of horse, plough and man and 1 barrel
of beer, and cost about £ 700
Or, it would need one man with a modern (1980) tractor, a sixpack
of beer and cost about £ 80
These figures are all at 1978 prices. (Current prices would be
in proportion, maybe x3) (ref 1, p21)
With tractors, (ref 1. p24)
A 1929 Fordson model N had a power of 15kW, and could pull a single
plough
A 1945 Fordson model E 27 N tractor had a power of 22kW
A 1966 Massey Ferguson tractor had 59kW and could pull a reversible
3-furrow plough
A 1977 Ford FW-30 tractor had 220kW, and was correspondingly able
to do more work
The same type of figures also apply to combine harvesters, where
it can be even more important to complete the harvest while the
weather is good.
Clearly the farmers can do their work more cheaply and quickly
with this equipment. However, they also have to make more money
to pay for the purchase costs and repairs of the new equipment,
so they may have to increase their profit margins, and guarantee
to make a profit every year.
There has been a major shift from labour intensive to capital
intensive (in many forms of agriculture)
Future. Further expansions into robotics and automation
seem unlikely with outdoor agriculture, but with indoor equipment,
this is possible, but even higher capital investment will be needed,
as the equipment is likely to be highly specialised and built
"tailor made" for a client. Satellite technology may
open possibilities for measurement and control of nutrients and
pests for outdoor crops.
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