Benefits of Agricultural Engineering

November 1, 2021November 1, 2021 rafaelaluna economic

Manual harvesting tends to be slow and is normally done using simple hand tools such as sickles, knives etc. Therefore, the use of mechanized machines in harvesting operations increases the output in terms of crops harvested per unit time and the quality of the final product.

Hence, what is the meaning of “agricultural engineering“?

The harvest is the operation of gathering the useful parts or parts of the plant.

It is a voluntary intervention by man, carried out at the time when all the nutrients have been developed and when the edible parts have reached the degree of maturity appropriate to the treatments to follow.

In general, the harvest takes place 10 or 15 days after the grain has reached physiological maturity.

At the time of maturity, the grain has specific moisture content and special physical characteristics.

For the harvest to take place at the most propitious time, account must be taken not only of the length of the growing cycles (which differ according to the varieties) but also of the degree of maturity of the grain.

Harvest with machinery

Harvesting machines are designed to suit operations at different scales (small, medium, and large scale machines are available for use in the harvesting operations), including the combined harvesters. The use of more efficient harvesting machines contributes to the reduction of postharvest losses.

In addition, the reduction of the harvest time is important in areas with several cropping seasons, where early crop establishment can contribute to higher yields for the following crop.

The use of adequate equipment, as well as the availability of hire services for harvesting, can make a difference for smallholders who depend on timely delivery of the production. Reapers and harvesters are adapted to different crops and sizes.

Mechanized harvesting

Manual harvesting of rice, which is still relatively common, especially in tropical areas, is being increasingly replaced by mechanical harvesting with combined harvesters. Combine harvesters are machines that do the cutting, threshing, and pre-cleaning of the rice in one operation.

Generally self-propelling, combine-harvesters have cutting apparatus, a threshing chamber composed of a revolving threshing drum (with teeth) and a stationary counter-thresher, and devices for cleaning the paddy.

The construction of these machines is chiefly based on two designs: Japanese and western. Depending on their construction features (width of cutter), the work capacity of these machines can vary from two to 15 hours per hectare (h/ha).

With this, agricultural engineering is the field of science in which engineering skills, Principles, and knowledge are applied in Agriculture to make it easy, sustainable and profitable by adopting modern techniques to produce high yields and to reduce the drudgery of Farmers via Farm mechanization.

Purposes of Agricultural Engineering:

To make Agriculture simple, profitable and sustainable
Farm mechanization
Soil and Water Conservation
Environmental balance
Easy Farming
To generate employment in Agriculture
To implement harvesting techniques
To design and develop Agricultural farm structures
To implement post-harvesting processes
Food and grain revolution
Energy sources
To follow renewable Agriculture
To install modern Irrigation systems
To implement Software and IT in Agriculture>> Modern Agriculture
Farm structures for White, Blue revolutions (milk and fish)
To reduce the operational costs of Agricultural Processes

As the entire world depends on Agriculture and in many countries almost 50% of the population depends on agriculture directly or indirectly. One has to enter to find the purposes of one thing and can understand and work to fulfill the requirements.

Key takeaway

Agricultural engineers design equipment and develop methods for land preparation, planting, and harvesting. They use automation, precision, and smart or “intelligence” technologies with new and existing equipment.