What are the Key Categories of Agriculture Equipment?

Agriculture is one of the oldest industries. It was also one of the first industries to become thoroughly mechanized. Since popularizing classic technologies such as the McCormick Reaper, mechanical agricultural equipment has played a critical role in helping this sector grow more food to feed an expanding population while keeping prices low. Because of the enormous number of equipment niches, many OEMs create and manufacture items for particular applications. Almost all of this equipment operates under challenging conditions, such as heat, dust, and "in the field," when regular maintenance is difficult and prohibitively expensive for operational efficiency.

Fremont, CA: Agricultural production is organized into two operating phases. Each stage necessitates the use of various sorts of specialized equipment. Some crops go through these phases on an annual basis, while others may be cultivated more than once each year.

Here are the top two categories in agricultural equipment classification:

Tractors

While self-propelled equipment has become more prevalent, the tractor is still the most commonly used piece of equipment in all these categories. Because agriculture's multi-part production process necessitates using numerous different equipment, keeping separate trucks for each production component is frequently prohibitively expensive.

The same vehicle asset can be exploited over the manufacturing cycle by using attachments and pulling equipment behind a tractor. The tractor is the farm's primary workhorse, removing many implements from each category.

Wheeled tractors were previously dominant, but tracked systems are quickly becoming a popular alternative. Tracks help distribute weight more evenly, reducing rutting and soil disruption.

The equipment a tractor pushes frequently has a system that draws power from the tractor itself. This mechanism can include couplings attached to the tractor's gearbox or a "power take-off," which typically consists of a dedicated drive shaft on the tractor that can be connected to the equipment.

Tilling and Soil Preparation Equipment

The term "tillage" broadly refers to soil preparation by mechanical agitation. Tilling equipment for commercial-scale agriculture is virtually always mechanized today, having previously been performed by manual tools such as hoes and animal-drawn plows.

Tilling equipment can be constructed for primary (more profound, more thorough) or secondary (shallower, more selective) tillage. Primary tilling, like plowing, causes the soil to have a rough surface finish. Secondary tilling is used to level and smooth the rough surface, creating a more perfect seedbed. Primary tillage is often done after the previous harvest is complete, while secondary tillage can be done during the growth season.

Because of these many functions, secondary tilling equipment frequently demands greater precision. For example, it may be necessary to till between crop rows to clear weeds without harming the crops.